Bina walked toward Liu Hui, stopping directly in front of him. He reached out, straightened the hair on Liu Hui’s back that belonged to Byrne, and offered a crisp military salute. Then, with a wave of his hand, Bina signaled Liu Hui to board the CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter.

Liu Hui had finally fooled Bina and stepped onto the aircraft, a thrill of excitement running through him. After his meticulous planning, he had successfully infiltrated the US military contingent. Now, he was heading back to their base with these soldiers. As long as he left this accursed Antarctic continent, the world would truly open up before him, and he would be free of all constraints.

The engines of the CH-47 Chinook roared to life, and the helicopter lifted off, ascending into the sky and heading southeast toward the American base. After the blizzard and gale of the previous night, the daytime weather was surprisingly clear, perfectly suited for flying.

The helicopter maintained its southeastern course, finally arriving at the US-operated Seppur Base in Antarctica two hours later. This facility was the sole American scientific research station on the continent.

Although the United States had signed the Antarctic Treaty, guaranteeing no military activities on the continent, the US military had quietly repurposed the station. While nominally a research outpost, it now carried the implicit meaning of a military installation.

In the original US plan, they intended to use fighter jets the previous day to force Liu Hui’s seaplane down toward this military base, capturing him and then extracting all his secrets.

They chose this base in Antarctica because it was geographically isolated from other landmasses and sparsely populated. Here, their actions would go completely unnoticed, granting them ample reaction time should any part of the operation be leaked.

What the commanding officers had not anticipated was that Liu Hui had inadvertently uncovered their scheme. On the ice sheet, he had staged a dramatic self-destruction of his plane, preventing his seaplane from landing at the base and forcing him instead into a complex terrain riddled with crevasses and glaciers.

Liu Hui’s maneuver caught the US forces completely off guard, shattering their comprehensive plan. They struggled to adapt to the sudden change, ultimately having to dispatch the ragtag collection of personnel stationed at the base—before their elite SEAL team could even arrive—to hunt down Liu Hui. The result was not only the crash of one helicopter but also severe psychological trauma among the survivors inside that terrifying ice cavern, requiring subsequent psychiatric treatment.

The CH-47 Chinook descended into the Seppur Station, landing on its makeshift airfield where a large transport plane was already parked. Liu Hui recognized the aerial behemoth: a US C-17 Globemaster III transport, capable of carrying a maximum takeoff weight exceeding seventy tons.

As Liu Hui and his group disembarked, liaisons from the base immediately approached their designated leader, who was then escorted to the command center to provide a detailed report of the previous day’s events to the commanders there.

Liu Hui and the others received new orders: after handing over the remains of the soldiers who had died in action, they were to board the C-17 Globemaster III and fly to Canberra, Australia—the main US hub there—where they would undergo investigation and psychological counseling at a military hospital.

Liu Hui was inwardly ecstatic; he hadn't expected such good news so quickly. Once he was aboard that plane headed for Australia, he could easily slip away on some pretext, change his appearance, and disappear forever. He could then immediately return to "Star City" to address the emergency situation developing within the Starry Sky Group.

After transferring the bodies of the deceased soldiers to the airfield, Liu Hui and the rest boarded the C-17 Globemaster III with heavy hearts. As the massive aircraft began to taxi down the runway, its speed suddenly decreased. It stopped completely, returning to its original position, and then its massive aft ramp began to lower.

Liu Hui’s heart tightened as he watched two Humvees drive onto the airfield. They drove straight up to the rear of the C-17, and two figures disembarked. One was an aloof old man, utterly immaculate and free of any dust; the other was a high-ranking US military official.

Liu Hui gasped in shock. He recognized the austere old man—it was Zhuì Hún, who had previously visited the Starry Sky Group. Zhuì Hún was the father of Duómìng, the leader of the African assassin organization “N,” and himself a terrifying, god-tier master.

Seeing Zhuì Hún walking directly toward his vicinity, Liu Hui’s alarm spiked, and he immediately prepared for combat. However, Zhuì Hún was preoccupied with his own thoughts and completely failed to register Liu Hui’s presence. The old man walked straight past, heading toward an adjacent cabin.

Liu Hui secretly breathed a sigh of relief. But then, Zhuì Hún halted abruptly at the cabin door, glancing around with a look of puzzlement, scanning the area for any anomaly. Only after finding nothing unusual did he proceed inside with the US official.

The C-17 Globemaster III closed its ramp, accelerated down the runway, lifted off, and flew directly northwest toward Australia.

The C-17 maintained an exceptionally smooth flight, cruising at ten thousand meters toward the Australian continent. Although Liu Hui had been awake for nearly a full day and night, his formidable strength kept exhaustion at bay. Furthermore, since he had not yet completely escaped danger, he dared not relax his vigilance.

Liu Hui remained constantly alert, monitoring his surroundings. After all, Zhuì Hún was on the plane, and Liu Hui had no idea what his objective was. Arousing Zhuì Hún’s suspicion would be an extremely troublesome complication.

The US soldiers surrounding Liu Hui were utterly drained. Exhaustion had long since overcome them, and they had fallen into deep sleep. Those who remained awake were lost in their own thoughts, devoid of the desire to speak. Consequently, for this entire duration, not a single person noticed any abnormality in the behavior or speech of the imposter among them.

Three hours passed quickly. The C-17 Globemaster III had long since left the Antarctic landmass behind; beneath it now lay the vast expanse of the South Pacific Ocean.

In the forward cabin, Zhuì Hún felt a lingering sense of frustration. Since his last encounter with Bina in Hong Kong, Bina had been persistently visiting him, proposing a partnership to deal with Black. However, Zhuì Hún’s naturally arrogant disposition made him averse to alliances, and he especially disliked Bina’s obsequious grin, leading him to continuously ignore Bina’s attempts at recruitment.

The African assassin organization “N” had been founded by Zhuì Hún himself, only falling into Duómìng’s hands when Zhuì Hún descended into madness. Upon regaining his sanity, Zhuì Hún discovered his son had been killed and the “N” organization disbanded. Unwilling to let the life’s work he shared with his son vanish, he resolved to rebuild the “N” organization from the ground up.

However, establishing a vast network of assassins from scratch, beginning with nothing, was an immensely difficult task. Coupled with years of detachment from worldly affairs, Zhuì Hún lacked the necessary connections.

It was at this juncture that Bina enthusiastically approached Zhuì Hún, offering assistance in reorganizing “N.” The condition was simple: when one party needed aid, the other was obligated to provide support. Considering that his rebuilt “N” was still weak and required considerable help, Zhuì Hún agreed to this seemingly advantageous partnership.

What Zhuì Hún hadn't foreseen was that, shortly after their cooperation began, Bina would summon him to the Antarctic continent to pursue a single target. But upon Zhuì Hún’s arrival, Bina immediately instructed him to rush to Australia to command the US elite forces there, preparing an interception line across the South Pacific.

It turned out that after entering the ice cave, Bina had found absolutely no trace of Liu Hui. He began to worry that Liu Hui had already escaped the Antarctic continent via the ocean. Though uncertain how Liu Hui managed it, prioritizing security, Bina decided to have Zhuì Hún set up an interdiction zone over the South Pacific, preventing Liu Hui from slipping away.

This was why Zhuì Hún was currently aboard this C-17 Globemaster III. He sat in his seat, eyes closed, resting. After contemplating his irritation, he suddenly felt a prickle of deep unease in his heart.

Zhuì Hún furrowed his brow and began methodically retracing his steps, trying to identify the source of this unsettling feeling. He dissected every action taken that day, searching for anything suspicious. Suddenly, he recalled sensing an overwhelmingly powerful intent to battle just as he boarded the aircraft. The sheer intensity of this fighting spirit made even him inwardly apprehensive; it reached the undeniable standard of a god-tier master.

However, Zhuì Hún found it perplexing because, when he turned back to look, that potent battle aura had instantly vanished. He saw only a group of despondent US soldiers, clearly lacking any god-tier expert among them.

Zhuì Hún adjusted his internal state, then abruptly stood up. He decided he must go inspect the rear cabin; this nagging doubt would prevent him from finding any peace otherwise.

Zhuì Hún walked to the rear cabin and meticulously observed the American soldiers, finding them all normal—none possessed the bearing of a god-tier master. He relaxed slightly; such experts were incredibly rare, and it was unlikely one would appear so casually here.

Just as Zhuì Hún was about to return to his seat, he saw a fleeting shadow pass by the restroom door. His eyes narrowed instantly; something was wrong. He had noticed that the figure moved with a lightness and grace entirely uncharacteristic of an ordinary US soldier... More to come, address RH