"It's over…" Captain Guan's heart went ice-cold as he watched Kallen and the gray armored soldier fall one after another. Jason was far too powerful — stronger than anything he had imagined.

  "Captain, what do we do now? Kallen's been taken down, and General Li is pinned on his end too — what are we supposed to do?" A-Bing's panicked voice crackled through the communicator.

  "Don't panic. Let me think." Captain Guan racked his brain for a way to turn the tide, but no matter how hard he tried, he could only arrive at one conclusion: their operation had failed completely. There was a very real chance that every one of them would die here. Captain Guan's face went ashen, and for a long moment he couldn't say a word.

  "Captain Guan, say something! You're our commander — do we keep fighting or not?!" the Bald scarred man demanded urgently into the communicator.

  "Keep fighting? What's the point? Kallen's been taken out — we've already lost. Just run for your lives!" came another voice over the communicator.

  "Run? How? They'll chase us. If they catch up, we're dead either way!"

  "Then what do we do? We can't win a fight, and we can't escape — are we completely finished?"

  Panic had overtaken the Rebels. Despair filled their hearts. Just then, a small truck appeared in the square and drove straight toward Jason, on a collision course with him.

  Jason noticed the truck coming and immediately unched himself upward, hovering about ten meters above the ground to avoid the impact. The truck screeched to a halt. The door swung open, and a strange figure stepped out — dressed in bck clothing, wearing a bck cape, and a fully sealed bck mask.

  "Who are you? Are you with the Rebels?!" Jason stared down at the masked figure in surprise. The person's entire body was concealed by the helmet, mask, and cloak, making it impossible for Jason to make out their face or even determine whether they were male or female.

  "You're asking who I am?" The strange figure looked up at Jason hovering in the air and spoke. Through the dark gray mask came a slightly muffled male voice. "I'm the person you've been looking for — the one who assassinated your Governor Suwen."

  "So it was you?!" Jason was inwardly startled. "You've finally decided to show yourself?"

  The masked figure said, "I'm here now. As agreed, you can release the Rebel prisoners you've captured."

  "That's not how this works," Jason replied. "I'll need to consult Governor Suwen on that matter first. Besides, you've hidden your entire appearance — no one can see your face. How do we know you're actually the person the Governor is looking for?"

  The masked figure said, "If you don't believe me, then call that Suwen out here. Let me confront him face to face, and everything will become clear."

  Jason sneered, "You think you can just demand to see the Governor whenever you please? Why don't you take off that helmet and mask first, let me see your real face, and then we'll talk."

  "No. I will only reveal my true identity when I see Suwen himself," the masked figure said in a tone that brooked no argument.

  Jason's eyes shifted, and suddenly a thought struck him. "You want to see the Governor this badly — you must have some ulterior motive. You're pnning to do him harm, aren't you? Hmph. Did you really think a trick like that would fool me? Take that mask off now, or I'll have your head."

  "If Governor Suwen doesn't have the guts to come out and face me, then I have nothing more to say," the strange figure said, turning and walking back toward the truck. "I'll be leaving."

  "Leaving? Not so fast." Jason dropped from the air and flew straight toward the masked figure.

  A rge bck shadow appeared from nowhere and hurled itself at Jason with tremendous speed. Jason spotted it just in time and shot upward, dodging the collision. Looking down, he saw that standing beside the masked figure was a strange creature roughly two meters tall and jet bck from head to toe.

  "This… this is a four-armed minotaur?!" Jason stared at the towering bck creature with an expression of shock.

  Just as Jason had said, beside the masked figure stood a creature roughly two meters tall, entirely jet bck, bare-skinned and barefoot, wearing nothing but a pair of light-blue athletic shorts. Its muscles were extraordinarily developed — it looked like a ferocious wild beast. Though its face bore a vaguely human appearance, two long sharp horns jutted from its head like a bull's, giving it the look of a man-bodied, bull-headed monster. Most remarkable of all, this minotaur had four thick, long arms.

  "Let me introduce you," the masked figure said, giving the minotaur a casual pat on the back. "This is my subordinate. His name is A-Niu." The four-armed minotaur stood quietly and obediently beside him, gazing up at Jason hovering in the air.

  Jason said coldly, "Your subordinate? You think I don't know what this is — it's a creature from the Sanctuary. Where did you get your hands on something like that?"

  The masked figure replied, "Where he comes from doesn't matter. What matters is that he can beat you."

  Jason scoffed, "With him? I've lost count of how many Sanctuary monsters I've killed. A creature like this doesn't concern me in the slightest."

  "Is that so? Then let's find out." The masked figure raised a hand and pointed up at Jason. "A-Niu, that old man in the pink clothes wants to py a fighting game with you. Go have some fun with him. Win, and I'll give you three days' worth of food."

  "Three days of food — yes! I'm going to knock him down!" the four-armed minotaur called A-Niu said in a rough, garbled voice. His expression became wildly excited, his rge nostrils fring. He stomped both feet hard against the ground and unched himself upward, leaping toward Jason who was five or six meters above.

  Jason quickly shifted sideways in the air, trying to dodge the minotaur's attack — but at that moment, a whirlwind appeared out of nowhere, wrapping around Jason and pulling him toward the four-armed minotaur.

  The whirlwind was incredibly powerful. Jason found himself unable to break free, swept by the gale toward the minotaur. The four-armed minotaur swung all four of its thick, long arms and unleashed a barrage of simultaneous punches at Jason.

  Thud. Boom. Several heavy impacts nded in quick succession — fist strikes to Jason's face, chest, and abdomen sent him flying through the air and crashing hard into the ground. The four-armed minotaur's strength was staggering. After taking those blows, Jason's head spun, and he felt as though the bones in his body had nearly been shattered.