Costi stood carefully before Meili, ever cautious. After taking several hard knocks in succession, he had not only grown wiser, but also realized—how could he not?—that whenever he performed even slightly less than expected, he was promptly beaten senseless. In truth, he knew well that if it weren’t for the current need for capable officers, his life would likely have already been taken by the beautiful general. The initial ambition to achieve great feats and conquer Earth had long since faded away. He had once believed that with sufficient effort, he could secure a significant territory before the arrival of large reinforcements. Now, however, he realized that Earth’s inhabitants were far more formidable—especially the Chinese cultivators, who proved truly difficult to handle. Thus, his current mindset had shifted to one of simply seeking no failure, rather than striving for success. Yet achieving this proved exceedingly difficult. After the beginning, every encounter with a cultivator brought him some loss. And there was one particularly severe injury he had sustained at the hands of ordinary humans—a record that truly instilled in him a deep sense of fear. "You're right about all that," Meili said coldly. He bowed his head and replied, "I couldn't possibly deceive the General—I truly mean it." "Didn't expect Qin Feng to be so sharp. He quickly realized the base was a fake," the beautiful magical being said with a thoughtful expression. Kostey was puzzled and asked, "What fake? I don't understand." In fact, upon finishing his question, he regretted it immediately—he knew the more he learned, the faster he would die. That simple truth he still remembered well. The beautiful magical being glanced at him and said, "Nothing much. I constructed a fake base to confuse the enemy, thereby making the real one safer. Recently, however, that base was destroyed. I thought they'd fall for it—yet..." Kostey's report indicated that the cultivators were still searching everywhere for the base, which meant the earlier fake base had failed to achieve any effect. "Share your thoughts," the woman said with a sniff. "I—" "He narrowed his eyes: 'I've followed the general's orders, and now I'm at your disposal. We'll share our thoughts with you.' 'Just speak up. If you don't, I'll beat you senseless.' Her expression darkened. The man groaned inwardly: 'General, I truly have no objections. The real base beneath the Arctic ice is so well concealed that they won't be able to detect it. Moreover, it won't take long before the base is fully constructed, and with a large influx of magical beings, even if they discover it later, it'll be too late.' 'Meri shook her head: 'You've only seen the surface. The exposure of the fake base will force them to revise their search strategy. Therefore, the real base isn't very secure. If it weren't for the fake base, we might have been safe. But now, that's not the case. Qin Feng is a sharp observer—he'll eventually notice something's off.' After a moment's pause, she added: 'You go immediately to the Arctic and create some noise.' 'What? Isn't that actively exposing us?' The man blinked in surprise. "Send him off, then. What's the point of all the fuss?" the beautiful fairy mage said sharply. "I warn you—should this matter not be handled properly, you'll never see me again." "Yes, sir," Costi replied meekly, then turned and walked away. Mirel's lips began to curl upward as she murmured to herself, "Since you've already spotted the falsehood, then fine—I'll give you a truth. See how well you can handle it from here." ... Qingya had already dispatched three flying cockroaches, and her lingering resentment was finally dissipated. Yet she wasn't done with Qin Feng. To have humiliated her right before Lei Feng's very eyes—well, she'd see to it that he wouldn't escape unscathed. At that moment, she suddenly sensed a surge of energy. The energy originated from the north, quite far away. Without hesitation, she pulled out her tablet—sure enough, a small red dot blinked steadily. Based on its position, it was clear that the source was deep in the polar region, thousands of miles away. "Could it be that the Earth's magnetic field has changed?" She furrowed her brow, then quickly dismissed the idea, saying, "Normal magnetic fluctuations would be filtered out and wouldn't trigger an alarm. There must be something abnormal." At that moment, a figure flashed across the sky, and Qin Feng appeared. His first words were, "Boss, something seems to have happened in the north—did you feel that?" "What a waste of time," she shot him a look, sighing, "You've been here all along, and I didn't even notice? Young man, you finally show up—well, I'm not going to—" "Qingya, there's an anomaly in the north," Lei Feng said, arriving swiftly on the flying sword, cutting off her words mid-sentence. "I know," she replied, looking up, "but there's a more pressing matter right in front of us to attend to." In her eyes, nothing else mattered as much as giving Qin Feng a good scolding. The director stiffened, saying, "I suspect that might be the Magi race's true stronghold. Don't make a scene—let's get over there right away." "Qin has rarely escaped unscathed, so he immediately agreed, saying: "I think the same. The magical race is quite cunning—building their base at the North Pole. That's why we've been unable to locate them. I suspect they're likely beneath the ice, thus evading satellite surveillance." "Let's not waste time on details. The direction is now confirmed. Let's move swiftly to investigate." The elder said seriously, at the same time reminding Qingya, "Deal with other matters later. The urgent matters come first." "Understood," she replied reluctantly. As the three of them flew northward, Isabel and the other inspectors also took the same course. Soon, they arrived above a vast, snow-covered plain. From above, everything appeared perfectly normal. "Indeed, beneath the ice. Should I go with you, or shall you go with me?" Qin smiled brightly. "I'll come..." He had just been about to command his flying sword to dig into the ice when his tone shifted. "But let him come instead. Human weapons may not be particularly advanced, yet killing a chicken with a bull's knife is quite unnecessary." That was clearly a case of putting himself on display—how could his flying sword possibly match the speed of a nuclear bomb? Qin Shao chuckled lightly and launched a small nuclear missile. Boom... As the explosion roared, a mushroom cloud began to rise. The elder casually waved his hand, sending a powerful gust of wind that instantly scattered the still-forming cloud. A circular opening over two kilometers in diameter was created in the ice, and the intense heat from the blast continued melting the surrounding ice, which turned directly into steam, causing the opening to expand rapidly. Beneath the ice lay a vast space, with well-organized buildings arranged in orderly fashion—this was indeed the true stronghold of the magical race. The explosion had little impact below—only a few dozen large cockroaches were startled, lifting their massive heads and staring in round-eyed wonder at the unexpected visitor in the air. "Attack!" the elder commanded. The inspectors surged downward, aiming to destroy the area.