Chapter 647: Shrouded Allegiances

So, Uncle Liang was the one you sent to surveil me?

Taking a deep breath, Yenir suppressed his shock and asked bluntly.

If that’s the truth, then everything makes sense.

To be honest, Yenir had long thought that since he was only a Third-Stage Beginner, he had no right to be protected by a powerhouse like Liang Lie, who was several levels above him.

Yes—his potential was undeniably strong, and he belonged to the first tier.

But most people believed it would take ages for Yenir to reach Liang Lie’s level.

Even geniuses don’t always evolve, especially one who offends everyone. The Military sending someone of that caliber to protect him was nothing short of a message to the world!

Yenir—this was the full backing of the Prime Minister’s camp!

But to Yenir’s surprise…

Before Yenir could speak, the usually silent General Qin Feng broke his silence:

“No.”

“We sent Liang Lie to protect you, at most as a test. But Liang Lie isn’t expected to report anything back to us!”

“In other words, no matter what you do or experience, Liang Lie can choose to keep silent! He even has the power to decide on his own—and in emergencies, he can attack anyone without hesitation, including us!”

“Yenir… We truly intended to protect you from the start, without any deception!”

He spoke with utmost sincerity.

After finishing, the normally reserved Commander Qin Feng allowed a rare wry smile to slip across his face.

They didn’t want to hide anything, and they certainly didn’t want you, Yenir, to harbor any hard feelings.

“Honestly, when you took Liang Lie to the Border, he lost contact with us. Even in Beihai, his sole duty was to protect you! I even wanted to reach out to him to find out what you were up to, yet Liang Lie never ‘answered’ us.”

“He belongs to the line of Guardians entirely independent of the Military.”

After finishing his explanation, Qin Feng offered no further words.

He was confident that Yenir understood every word he said was true.

If his early actions in Beihai had been about surveillance rather than protection, there’s no way Yenir could have gotten away with it—Liang Lie would have taken him down immediately!

It was only when the explosion in the city grew too noisy that Liang Lie had to alert the Military.

“We assigned Liang Lie to protect you solely because he had once had dealings with ‘Yelin’. You know, Liang Lie was one of the era’s brightest geniuses.”

“And besides… even though Liang Lie did take part in the attack back then, he pulled back at the last moment. That’s exactly why he was relegated to the ‘Protectors’ tier—a way to redeem his merits while keeping him far from the center of power.”

The situation was extremely complicated. Qin Feng sighed as if recalling days long past.

Their decision to assign Liang Lie as your protector was less about confirming your identity and more about testing Liang Lie himself.

Back then, no one knew why his group joined the attack—it was almost as if they had been brainwashed.

In that epic battle, had Liang Lie not pulled back at the last second—and given his unusual background—he might not have survived to this day.

After hearing the whole story, Yenir was left dumbfounded.

He never expected so many hidden secrets to be lurking behind it all.

“So…”

“Then, have you discovered why that Yelin—who looks just like me—did what she did? And besides, I get the feeling your attitude…”

“What does she look like? Do you have any photos?”

An indescribable strangeness hung in the air.

Yenir was puzzled; even after everything he’d heard, something still didn’t add up.

Moreover, he felt that the Military’s stance on Yelin was oddly ambiguous—as if it were a strictly classified matter, a grave mistake. Yet still…

“Yenir, are you saying that the story of Yelin doesn’t match with what you’ve heard and seen?”

“And after such a huge incident, the Military couldn’t possibly neglect a thorough investigation.”

Fang Hao took over the conversation, shrugging helplessly with a wry smile.

“They didn’t leave any photos, didn’t investigate properly—we still don’t know why she did it.”

“Like you, Yelin was a civilian who was scouted into the Military because of her astonishing innate talent.”

“As for the events of that era, we knew no more than you. All the archival records have been erased, and most of the people involved are long gone…”

“You know, seventeen years ago, we were nothing more than mere foot soldiers…”

“And back then, in the Huaxia Battle Zone, battles raged both internally and externally. With so many crises at home and abroad, the incident became almost unsolvable—rumors distorting the truth. So naturally, what you’ve heard doesn’t quite match reality.”

As if remembering something, Fang Hao hesitated for a moment before adding:

“It was also because of Yelin that the Military grew extremely wary of ‘geniuses’ from civilian backgrounds during that period.”

“Seventeen years ago, amid post-apocalyptic chaos, even the survivors had their issues. Private Third-Stage fighters attacked the Military, various factions raided the Safe Zone for supplies, and even the Awakener recruits, painstakingly nurtured by the Military, turned traitorous. Such things happened all too often.”

“That’s why the Authorities always warned that Awakener recruits not born into the Military carried inherent risks. This became one of the key reasons why the Military later scaled back its resources.”

“If they ever ‘trained’ another Yelin, the Military simply couldn’t handle it.”

Listening to Fang Hao recount those past events, Yenir suddenly felt like many of his questions had been answered.

These secrets were things he’d never known in his previous life.

No wonder—the Military’s odd behavior, the greater hindrance you faced the more outstanding you were, Yenir!

“So is it because of Yelin that the Military split—and that I became a target?”

“She killed the top brass at that time.”

“That act shifted the Military’s attitude toward outside survivors, leading to the emergence of two factions and eventually culminating in the current state of affairs…”

“Without Yelin, the Military would have continued to support grassroots survivors, and we wouldn’t have ended up with an old guard of dominating Third-Stage fighters. I wouldn’t have ended up like this either.”

Yenir’s eyes flickered as an ineffable absurdity forced a bitter smile from within.

But then, much to his surprise…

The Prime Minister suddenly shook his head and, still puzzled, spoke in a low tone:

“She’s not dead.”

“Back then, Yelin was only a Third-Stage Advanced fighter. Although her combat prowess was as crazy as yours—far beyond her peers—the Military could still keep her in check.”

“To be precise, back then Yelin severely injured that senior, and she was killed on the spot.”

“And that high-ranking official, after suffering critical injuries, mysteriously abdicated—setting off the split into two factions later on.”

“As for our stance…”

Li Xuanguo’s expression grew stern as he fixed a serious gaze on Yenir:

“There are rumors—no, we should say that during that epic battle, the high-ranking official who stepped down didn’t exactly seem like…”

“A human!”