Chapter 10: The Decaying Private Sector

Impulsiveness leads to mistakes.

Impulsiveness is a demon.

But Qin Hu could never have imagined that the reckless actions he took today would end his future career!

Southwest, just a few kilometers from the defensive line of Country Y.

Several off-road vehicles came to a halt.

A dozen men in black tactical uniforms climbed out, grabbing their weapons and military backpacks, closing the car doors behind them, and spotted Qin Hu, who had just arrived.

One teammate joked, “Wait, Qin Hu, the captain told you to evacuate first with your men. Why are you only getting here now?”

When breaking out from the reed marsh, Lu Yunzhou had ordered Qin Hu and Chen Yu to lead their group out first, while he and others stayed behind to cover them.

Logically, Qin Hu’s group should have arrived here before anyone else.

Yet, as they stepped out, they saw that Qin Hu’s vehicle had just pulled in.

“Where is she?”

A young man jumped out of the car, grabbed his backpack, stared at Qin Hu’s vehicle for a few seconds, his expression shifting, brow furrowing.

It was clear from the car window that Shen Zhaoxi, who should have been inside, was nowhere to be seen.

“That’s right, Qin Hu, where’s the heiress from W Group?” Other teammates, hearing Chen Yu, peered into Qin Hu’s vehicle, but saw no one else.

Only Qin Hu, who was driving, and another teammate who had stepped out of the passenger seat.

The teammate’s face was troubled, eyes cast down, as if hiding something, reluctant to speak.

“Brother Qin Hu, I’m asking you—where is she?”

Chen Yu, seeing Qin Hu’s reaction, furrowed his brows, an ominous feeling rising in his heart.

Everyone in the team knew Qin Hu’s temperament.

He’d never gotten along with the heiress from W Group, and who knew what he might do in a moment of impulse.

Chen Yu stared intently at Qin Hu, waiting for his answer, as those around them looked on in astonishment.

At that moment, a man of cold demeanor approached, carrying a long-range rifle, his black attire accentuating his sharp profile, features handsome and chiseled. He lifted his jet-black eyes.

He naturally heard the commotion. His severe countenance was cool beneath the glaring sun, aloof and ascetic.

“Where is she?”

Lu Yunzhou’s eyes were icy and proud, deep and calm, his gaze settling on Qin Hu.

His black pupils were like a tranquil, bottomless pool, frighteningly cold.

Qin Hu dared not meet his gaze. Soon, he clenched his fists and lowered his head. Chen Yu looked at him with complex emotions, hardly believing that Qin Hu—a seasoned special forces soldier—could do such a thing.

Lu Yunzhou was their captain. Last night, during the breakout, he had assigned them the task of evacuating with Shen Zhaoxi.

Their mission was to guarantee Shen Zhaoxi’s safety.

Yet now, Qin Hu was telling them she was gone.

Under the tense and puzzled stares of the group, Qin Hu lifted his head, his face dark, weighed down by Lu Yunzhou’s imposing gaze that pressed against his chest like a physical force.

He squeezed his fists at his sides, unable to withstand the scrutiny of his teammates and captain, and finally spoke in a muffled voice.

“I threw her away.”

“Where?”

Lu Yunzhou’s expression was frigid, his tone sharp, a rare anger flickering in his eyes.

A cold gleam flashed in his black eyes as he stared at Qin Hu’s ashen, conflicted face—knowing he had erred, yet still stubborn and unrepentant.

Qin Hu lowered his head.

Tormented inside, yet faced with his captain’s questioning, he could only confess, “Slum camp.”

Chen Yu’s expression was one of shock.

“What did you say?”

“Qin Hu!”

“You mean you left her in the slum camp?”

Even the other teammates couldn’t contain themselves.

Though the woman was indeed the heiress of W Group, notorious for her misdeeds,

She was now gravely wounded, helpless in the slum camp.

In Dongzhou, the regions around Sand City were perpetual war zones—chaotic, with rival factions, corpses strewn everywhere, endless strife.

Countless civilians were displaced, left to rot in the desert, surviving by scavenging in dire hardship.

Several places near Sand City were slum camps, where hungry, cold people huddled everywhere.

But not all in the slum camps were powerless peasants; many were hardened criminals, driven by hunger to rob and fight.

“Idiot!”

“You left her there alone—she’ll die!”

Chen Yu, usually the youngest and quietest, gentle and reserved, raised his voice for the first time, shouting at someone.

And that someone was Qin Hu, a veteran of the special forces.

Talented, but with a bad temper.

None of which justified disobeying orders!

They’d all seen the severity of the heiress’s injuries; Qin Hu leaving her in the slum camp was tantamount to sentencing her to death.

She was a girl.

In a place like the slum camp, anything could happen to her.

If something really did… Chen Yu dared not imagine it!

As a special forces soldier, his duty was to protect civilians and the nation.

If someone died because of them, how were they any different from the villains of W Group?

“Lead the way!”

Lu Yunzhou's black eyes flickered with a dark undertone as he coldly commanded.

Qin Hu had left her.

Only he knew where.

Now, their task was to find her before anything could happen.

They drove again, heading to a remote spot near Sand City. The blazing sun heated the off-road vehicles to a scorching degree.

Inside, they watched the sandstorm whip past the windows, as if in the next moment they might be buried in yellow sand. The air was hot, carrying a faint stench of blood and filth.

As they drove past, broken houses made of piled sand stood on either side, some enveloped in sand, dilapidated.

Further ahead, they saw makeshift shelters built from tattered gray cloth, poorly strung together—windy in fair weather, leaking in the rain. Many filthy people crouched inside, watching their vehicles pass with wary, calculating eyes. The men inside the cars were grim-faced, lips pressed tight, the mood oppressive.

It seemed their captain might explode any second, and no one dared look at his face.

Lu Yunzhou’s expression was covered in a layer of icy frost.

They all knew their captain’s temper. He was usually cold and taciturn, but if he truly lost his temper, they would suffer.

Near dusk, they reached the spot where Qin Hu had abandoned Shen Zhaoxi.

Inside the slum camp.

A damp, dark corner.

Chen Yu did not find Shen Zhaoxi.

Instead, he found a piece of blood-soaked gauze, carelessly discarded on the ground.

It was the bandage he had used for Shen Zhaoxi’s gunshot wound.

“Captain?! I swear I left her right here…” Searching the entire slum camp and finding no trace of Shen Zhaoxi, Qin Hu’s face was flushed, sweating, mortified as he anxiously looked at Lu Yunzhou’s cold face.

No need to guess.

Shen Zhaoxi must have met trouble!

Either those thugs in the slum camp had dragged her off, doing unspeakable things.

Or she was already dead.

If so,

He truly deserved to die!

It was no different from throwing a delicate girl into a den of beggars.

What would she suffer?

The consequences were self-evident!

At this thought, the faces of the other teammates were cold and tense, brows tightly furrowed.

Even though she was the heiress of W Group, an enemy.

She was, after all, a wounded girl who had lost the ability to resist and fallen into their hands.

Such a turn of events left them uneasy, their faces grim.

“I…” Qin Hu finally panicked, his face stiff, realizing what he had done—his features hard.

“I never meant for this. I just wanted to teach her a lesson.”

Ever since he saw what happened in Sand City’s laboratory—all those innocent lives lost to W Group’s monstrous experiments—he was furious, blaming W Group.

Shen Zhaoxi had seized the opportunity and injected him with a drug, nearly killing him—why should he save her?

Save someone so cruel and guilty.

But now, after witnessing the depravity of the slum camp, seeing the leering, predatory eyes of the men, he realized what might happen to her.

Images flashed in his mind of a girl suffering abuse, torture, humiliation, and he knew he had truly made a mistake.

“Captain, I…”

Qin Hu could hardly raise his head.

“Now you’re scared?”

Lu Yunzhou’s expression turned icy, his voice cold and harsh, showing no mercy.

“You weren’t afraid when you abandoned her!”