Grasshoppers on the Same Rope

Jiang Yi's expression barely shifted as she faced Mo Fan's gambit. Her voice was cold, tinged with contempt. "Do you really think you can outperform any of the officers under my command?"

Mo Fan's tactic couldn't have been more straightforward — throw the whole situation into complete chaos.

The Lizard-Skull Giant Demons would mindlessly charge any human in sight, with no regard for which side of the line their prey stood on. If Mo Fan had to weather their assault, so did Jiang Yi and her officers.

It came down to one question: who would be the last one standing?

Jiang Yi found Mo Fan's move childish. Every one of her people was an elite from the military branch — each had hundreds of Demon-Beast kills to their name. Surviving in the wilderness, fighting Demon-Beasts — these were second nature to them.

And this kid? A trainee on his very first Field Expedition — nothing more than a raw recruit by military standards. Did he honestly think he could use the Demon-Beasts to engineer his escape?

Give him ten lives, let him die ten times — not a single one of her people would fall.

"Stop disgracing the name of Military Mage," Mo Fan said without a shred of courtesy. "You're nothing but rotten filth hiding among them. Tell me — did someone defile those precious beliefs of yours?"

Mo Fan could read Jiang Yi clearly. This Staff Officer had a Military Mage's pride running through her — utterly confident in the soldiers she had forged herself.

And honestly, in this chaotic situation where everyone was scrambling to survive a Demon-Beast assault, there was no telling who would make it out alive. Mo Fan was gambling — betting that his four elements would carry him through better than anything else could.

Mo Fan had always had a sharp mouth, and today was no exception.

His words seemed to land somewhere deep in Jiang Yi. She had always taken pride in being a Military Mage, believing obedience was her highest calling — and yet what they were doing today was an unforgivable betrayal of everything that meant.

They would lose their ranks — cast out and spat upon by all. Lu Nian had the single-minded ruthlessness of someone who would do anything to reach his goal, but Jiang Yi wasn't made of the same cloth. Somewhere inside her, guilt lurked — the kind she kept trying to outrun by telling herself it was all for a greater cause, that sacrifice and moral compromise were unavoidable costs along the way.

Jiang Yi looked out at the swarming mass of Lizard-Skull Giant Demons and Colossal Death Lizards surrounding them — an endless, writhing sea.

Any ordinary mage would have been terrified into paralysis. To Jiang Yi and her officers, it was just a pack of filthy lizards.

"Since you're so confident you'll be the last one standing, I'll give you a chance." Jiang Yi let out a cold laugh, gesturing for the officers behind her to form up, then fixed her gaze on Mo Fan.

"Oh?" Mo Fan raised an eyebrow. *Did this wide-faced staff officer actually take a liking to my dashing good looks? That's the only reason I can think of for her suddenly playing nice.*

"I won't enter the fight myself. I'll use my officers as the measure. If even one of them dies while you're still breathing, you get to make one demand of me."

Jiang Yi had no intention of killing Mo Fan — she even needed to protect him to a degree. Without a live subject, their experiments had nothing to work with.

Mo Fan was clearly trying to drag everyone down with him — a mutually assured destruction approach that helped no one. She might as well turn it into a proper contest with this insufferably arrogant kid.

"Any demand?" Mo Fan's grin spread — then stiffened slightly as he noticed the nearest Lizard-Skull Giant Demons closing to within five hundred meters.

"Except your release," Jiang Yi said.

"That's hardly a sincere offer. Like it or not, we're all grasshoppers tied to the same rope right now." Mo Fan said with an almost leisurely air.

With this many Lizard-Skull Giant Demons completely surrounding them — since no one had fled when they had the chance, escape was now off the table for everyone. Whether they would even survive was the only real question. Who had the luxury of worrying about anything else?

"This is already the most I'm willing to offer you. If you were just an ordinary trainee, I wouldn't even show you this much respect," Jiang Yi said.

"I don't quite follow," Mo Fan said, puzzled.

"I've reviewed your file," Jiang Yi said evenly. "The turnaround during the Bo City disaster. The purge of the Black Church in Magic City. You had a hand in both."

"So that's it." Mo Fan could see it now — Jiang Yi wasn't doing this willingly. She was following orders she couldn't refuse. "If you truly respect me, tell your people to stand down. Everyone dying here helps nobody."

"I can't do that," Jiang Yi said flatly.

"Damn it, then I'm not in the mood for your little wager," Mo Fan snapped, frustration cracking through.

*I actually thought I could get through to her — wake something up in that fallen soul of hers. Should've known she was solid iron all the way through.*

There was no more time for words. The nearest Lizard-Skull Giant Demon was barely a hundred meters away — a beast the size of a sedan car, barreling straight at him, eyes bulging wide with the desperate hunger to devour something human.

"Fire Burst!"

Mo Fan completed the spell with practiced ease. A trail of scorching crimson cut through the air like a rose-red comet.

**Boom!!**

Flames erupted across the Lizard-Skull Giant Demon's body. The blast wave hurled it sideways, fire spreading rapidly across its hide, consuming it from head to tail.

But the creature wasn't dead. Their skin was thick as armor — a Basic-Level spell wasn't enough to put one down.

As if pain were beneath its concern, the beast charged at Mo Fan again in a fury, still wreathed in fire.

"Die already," Mo Fan muttered in disgust, hurling another Fire Burst.

He aimed it at the creature's lower jaw. The explosion shattered the jaw clean off, leaving it hanging limp — no cartilage left to hold it in place. The beast crumpled to the ground. Not quite dead, but it might as well have been.

While Mo Fan dealt with his attacker, the thirteen officers were already unleashing their own spells.

Their side drew more attention — more bodies, stronger scent — and the Lizard-Skull Giant Demons swarmed them in greater numbers. The entire road writhed with hunched, scaly backs, and their shrieks were ear-splitting, like lightning cracking right beside your skull.

Dressed in her ash-gray military coat, Jiang Yi stood at the center of her officers with her arms folded across her chest, expression unreadable. Not a trace of fear.

In truth, dying here or being sentenced to death afterward made no difference to her. All that mattered was completing their mission before the end.

She stood back and watched with cold eyes, keeping herself out of the fight.

*If Mo Fan was still alive while her officers fell...*

*No. She couldn't let him go.*

*If she had already crossed the line, she would keep walking.*

The Military Commander had lost his mind — no question. But she had sworn unconditional loyalty once. What good was regret now?