You were told to search and attack, but you're supporting Asara?

Chen Xiao was awakened by a basin of cold water. He struggled to open his eyes, and a sharp pain kept coming from the back of his head.

His limbs were tightly bound to a pillar with ropes, and he had almost lost all feeling.

Before them was a roaring bonfire, and figures wearing crimson masks were faintly visible on the opposite side.

"Tell me, where are your accomplices?" A hoarse, deep voice, mixed with the scratching sound of a claw knife carving wood, reached Chen Xiao's ears.

"I don't have any accomplices," Chen Xiao said hoarsely.

"Not bad, he's a tough nut to crack." Said's voice was completely flat. "Your GTI rats have come here twenty times in one day, they've really annoyed me to death."

Sayed, Saeed kicked at a ditch beside his feet: "Sixteen out of the eighteen people who came this time are in here. Honestly tell me where the last one is, and I might give you a quick death!"

Chen Xiao laboriously shook the water droplets off his head, opened his eyes, and looked at the deep pit where corpses lay scattered at Said's feet. A grim smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Damn it, these bunch of noobs..."

A familiar voice shouted angrily, "Boss, let me vent my anger! This little brat really knows how to hit hard!"

Chen Xiao asked weakly, "How did you recognize me?"

Seeing that Chen Xiao still had the mind to ask such questions, Saeed said jokingly, "Abdullah has always been at odds with Farid. I heard you nodded to him?"

"Damn it!" Chen Xiao cursed in frustration.

The machine gunner, who had already removed his mask, sneered: "Said, what's the point of talking to that GTI bastard who smashed a satellite into the Assaras's head? If he's not going to say anything, just send him to his death!"

Chen Xiao had already prepared himself for rebirth, but upon hearing the way he addressed Said, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: "A guard soldier who calls Said by his first name and also Farid??"

"It's him!"

Chen Xiao's mind raced, and he sneered in return, "Pah! Doesn't Said know who brought down the satellite? Don't you know either?"

"Hmm?" Upon hearing this, Said's cold, sharp eyes narrowed beneath his mask.

The catastrophic scene of yesterday was still vivid in his mind. While gritting his teeth and watching satellites crash into Asara's villages and towns one by one, Sayed was also busy dealing with wave after wave of players inside the dam, venting all his anger on these players.

Upon hearing the news of the satellite crash, he turned sharply to look at Farid by the campfire.

A flicker of panic crossed Faried's eyes, and he spoke with a blustering but weak voice: "GTI bastards, trying to deny it! Who else but GTI could bring Hafk's satellite down from the sky? Are you trying to say I did it??"

"What exactly happened?!" Said pressed, barely suppressing his anger.

"You overestimate yourself," Chen Xiao mocked. "Of course you can't do it."

"However, it's hard to say about Reis, who snatched the Mandel brick a few months ago."

"Reis?!" Said's eyes practically blazed with fury. "He did it, kid. What proof do you have?!"

"No," Chen Xiao replied crisply.

Before Saeed could erupt, he gestured with his chin toward Farid, who was already drenched in sweat: "But you can go ask your closest brother how long it's been since he's seen his family."

Upon hearing this, Faried deflated like a punctured balloon, his entire body slumping down.

Saeed strode over, grabbed him by the neck, and said through gritted teeth, "Tell me what happened!"

"Ray...Ray...he kidnapped my family...cough cough..." Faried struggled to speak, "My wife, my daughter..."

Saeed slammed him to the ground.

"He instructed me to secretly conduct Operation Red Rat's Nest on your turf to keep you occupied..."

"I used to think I only needed to be wary of my enemies." Said's eyes held an indescribable complexity. "You were my closest brother, yet you stabbed me in the back!"

"Do you know how many people in Assara were crushed to death by falling satellites?!"

"So many families have been torn apart, lives lost, and wives and children separated!"

"Said, I didn't want this either..." Farid knelt on the ground, suddenly raised his head, gritted his teeth, and stared at the Crimson Owl in front of him: "But I have family too!"

The two stared at each other for a long time, neither willing to give in. Saeed waved his hand, somewhat disheartened, and said, "Get up, Farid."

"I'll help you with your family's issues..."

Farid looked at him in disbelief; no one knew better than him how much the man in front of him cared about Asara.

"Said..."

"Ahem, while I'm pleased to see the two of you clear up your misunderstanding, I have brought a request for cooperation. Mr. Red Owl, would you be interested in learning more?"

Chen Xiao carefully considered his words before speaking.

"Willing to cooperate?" Sayid glanced at Chen Xiao, who was bound hand and foot. "Don't think I'll let you off just because GTI wasn't behind the satellite crash."

"Compared to Hafk, GTI is merely waving the banner of justice and waging a game on Asara's soil!"

"Wow, Said actually said that?" Chen Xiao was genuinely shocked and spoke again, "I must say Mr. Ziad has excellent insight, but there's one thing I need to correct you on."

"Although Reese orchestrated the Skynet crash, it is also inextricably linked to GTI."

"Huh?" The guards around were all stunned, not expecting Chen Xiao to splash dirty water on them.

"What do you mean?"

"Just like Reese, who only thinks about how to make money, there are also people within GTI who have their own agendas, and this person holds a high position in GTI," Chen Xiao explained to Said, who was full of doubts.

"And it was with his help that Reese successfully hacked into the Skynet system and controlled the rocket to launch."

"And I already have substantial evidence to show that this mole within GTI's upper echelons is collaborating with Hafk!"

"GTI and Asara share a common enemy." Chen Xiao looked at Said with a confident expression. "We also need to find the mole. We are quite sincere in this cooperation."

"These three, working in groups, have been relentlessly infiltrating and looting..." Sayid grabbed Chen Xiao by the collar: "Is this their sincerity in cooperating with GTI?!"

"Uh..." Chen Xiao looked at the corpse in the pit with a conflicted expression: "This was an accident."

"While I cannot guarantee that such people will not come again in the future, I can guarantee that this cooperation will not be affected by this."

Sayed looked at him suspiciously: "You really don't value human life at all?"

"Well, strictly speaking, they're not human." Chen Xiao racked his brains to come up with a way that Said could understand: "You can think of them as pseudo-humans or androids."

"These people are fearless of death and tireless. Their underlying logic is to come up here, find something valuable to put in their pockets, and then try every means to leave."

"Just like you?"

"...Yes, just kill as many of them as come."

Saeed glanced silently at the corpses lying haphazardly in the pit.

"If handled properly, it's not impossible to get them to work for Asara."

Chen Xiao added a sentence afterward.

"Words are meaningless; how can I believe you?"

As Said spoke, the four guards around him, seeing that their leader was considering cooperating with GTI, were about to speak when Said stopped them with a gesture.

"I know these things are hard for you to accept," Chen Xiao said thoughtfully, "but at this time, it might be worth seeking the opinions of others."

"You should know who you need to go to."

Said paused, gave Chen Xiao a deep look, and then ordered the flamethrower and rocket soldiers, "Hakim, Karim, put this kid down, feed him something, and keep an eye on him so he doesn't run away."

"Fared, come with me."

"Roger that, boss."

After being untied by the two men, Chen Xiao flexed his aching wrists and shouted at Said's retreating back, "Even if you let me run, I won't! I'll wait for you to come back here!"