The Beautiful Boss's Personal Bodyguard-Chapter 415 - 4132

"Of course, this matter can’t just be chalked up to the pursuit of the Medicine of Immortality, but rather it should be defined as a health, science, and education venture, overseen by ten Marshals themselves, which led to the creation of the Dragon Team. The rest is all classified as top secret, accessible to only a few of the old leaders; no one else can stick their noses in. Even I don’t know the full picture. Anyway, things eventually developed to the point that the complete focus was on finding Huatuo’s Tomb. You already know what happened after that, there’s no need for me to go on."

"What help do you want from me this time I’m back? Murder, or smuggling?" Ye Tian’s tone was laced with irony and much more mockery.

In his mind, two concepts quickly formed. One was to postpone revenge; the other was that these people were purely spouting nonsense.

The Admiral sitting at the center started speaking in a serious tone, "Ye Tian, we hope you can return to the Dragon Team, to take command of this team that is showing signs of decline, and then find Huatuo’s Tomb."

"Sorry, General, from what I can gather, all my brothers who participated in this mission were killed, and I only narrowly escaped by dumb luck. If you ask me to go back in again, I really can’t guarantee that I can step in another pile of luck and make it out alive."

The implication was clear—he refused.

The atmosphere in the war room became subtly tense; the old fellows all had different expressions, only Ye Tian maintained an easy-going demeanor.

The Admiral in the center looked at Ye Tian, his eyes reflecting decades of vicissitudes. This suddenly made Ye Tian feel a tinge of sympathy for him.

This old man might very well have been the hand that pushed him toward the cliff, but now, seeing him sitting before him, Ye Tian kept feeling an unceasing hesitation rising within, as if the man carried burdens that were not his alone.

The Admiral said, "Don’t you want to know if there really is such a thing as the Medicine of Immortality in this world? If it truly exists, you might be the only person in the country who could come into contact with it."

"Don’t start with that. First, I absolutely don’t believe there’s such a thing as the Medicine of Immortality in this world. I’m just an ordinary flesh and blood person, not comparable to those emperors and heroes; they couldn’t get their hands on such things, so a commoner like me wouldn’t even dream of it; second, my brothers died for this cause, and I will not blindly follow it in foolish loyalty, nor do you need to try to tempt me with such terms. Compared to my little life, I prefer to stay alive."

Silence fell over the five people once more.

"Do you really think all your comrades are dead?"

The Political Commissar finally broke the silence, his words piquing Ye Tian’s curiosity. Noticing Ye Tian’s raised eyebrows, the Political Commissar continued, "Don’t you want to see them again?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"I’m not talking nonsense. Ye Tian, think about it, why is it that out of everyone involved in the same incident, only you survived and the others died? The moment you set foot on the motherland’s soil, people speculated that something unknown might have happened to you. I won’t ask you about the specifics here—if you don’t want to speak, no matter how I ask, you won’t tell. But I do have one question for you—haven’t you ever pondered what happened to you?"

The Political Commissar’s question made Ye Tian recall many past events, including the Nine Emperor Bell he brought out from the burial goods in Huatuo’s Tomb, still mixed into his right wrist. If, as Pig Hu had once claimed, Ye Tian really possessed what they were all searching for—the Medicine of Immortality.

Anxiety suddenly gripped Ye Tian’s heart; not for fear of his body’s secret being discovered, but the thought that if he accidentally obtained the Nine Emperor Bell and survived, the others might also have obtained something else that allowed them to live. After all, he hadn’t witnessed their deaths with his own eyes.

"Is what you’re saying true?"

"Whether it’s true or false, you know best. Remember Gongsun Muyang?"

That old man who uses leg braces?

"Rest assured, this has nothing to do with him. I’m talking about someone else. Chao, come in for a moment."

As soon as the voice fell, the tent flap at the entrance was lifted, and a young man of about twenty entered. He was slightly shorter than the others, but his spirit was completely different from Ye Tian’s—he was filled with a kind of power that could explode at any moment. Yet this person had a more insidious quality, like a venomous snake, ready to deliver a fatal bite at any time. What piqued Ye Tian’s interest was the white cloth wrapped around his right arm, bound in layers up his whole arm, from his fingers to his shoulder.

"Ma Chao, a pleasure to meet you."

He even took the initiative to greet him.

Ye Tian nodded at him in response.

"Did you kill Gongsun?"

Ye Tian nodded, "Did you have a good relationship with him?"

"Not much, he taught me a trick or two, there’s a teacher-student relationship, just not in name."

Their back-and-forth left the Political Commissar somewhat ignored.

"Cough cough, Ye Tian, regarding the question earlier, would you be willing to return to the Dragon Team?"

Ye Tian shrugged, "As long as I’m interested, I think I can find anyone I want without necessarily having to join the Dragon Team."

"I’m not talking about that. I mean to find the whereabouts of the stolen ancient relics from Huatuo’s Tomb and bring them back to aid in Huaxia’s national defense."

"Superpower troops?"

"Sort of."

Images of people lighting cigarettes with their fingers or gamblers using superpowers to change card face values popped into Ye Tian’s head. A hint of disdainful smirk appeared on the corner of his mouth, "I mean, if you believe all this, it would be better to just improve the living conditions of the soldiers on our national borders."

"You don’t believe?"

"Not one bit!"

The Political Commissar did not attempt to persuade Ye Tian further, instead, he gave Ma Chao a look. Understanding the signal, Ma Chao began to unravel the cloth wrapped around his right arm, layer by layer.

Ye Tian had initially paid no mind, but as the cloth came undone and the fingers were exposed, he suddenly sensed a formidable threat emanating from that arm. Black nails, black knuckles, desiccated and scraggly like tenacious old tree roots, the five fingers seemed as if they had endured the ravages of time, exuding a boundless malevolent aura straight at Ye Tian.

However, the hand that touched the air quickly swelled up. That immense spiritual force, capable of destroying both body and soul, instantly made Ye Tian feel like an ant facing an elephant, utterly on a path to self-destruction. Looking at Ma Chao’s face, it had started to change gradually, the previous ruddiness being replaced by a creeping blackness, his eyes red and swollen as if afflicted by some disease.