But at this moment, sitting in front of the chief seats occupied by William Parker and Hammer, he could only stand, constantly lashing the team leaders.

"You bunch of useless pigs! So many of you can't even stop a single civilian! After searching for so long, you can't even find a trace of them—you all deserve to be executed by firing squad!" The commander was furious, while William Parker simply watched the video of Sarah Bolton leaving, metallic laughter occasionally emanating from beneath his mask and respirator.

"Sir, it was my failure in discipline that let these useless fools disappoint Director Gu Xuan's expectations! But please rest assured, we have already set up an inescapable net and will definitely capture them soon." The commander gasped, bowing as he spoke.

"Of course I believe you, but you just won't be around to see it." As soon as William Parker finished speaking, Hammer was already standing in front of the commander.

"Sir—" Before the commander could finish, Hammer swung a heavy slap, sending the commander flying. By the time his body crashed into the metal wall, he was nothing but a pile of flesh. The group of captains were all stunned at the sight.

"There's no need to be afraid. From now on, I am your new leader." William Parker took over command of the search operation.

Chapter 8: Heart Core Fragment!

Gert Third Federal City is a small metropolis covering about 150 square kilometers, living off traditional trade, and serving as a transportation hub in the domain of the Overlord. Most merchants travel by air, or via fortress trains on land.

The entire city is surrounded by walls 200 meters high and 50 meters thick. There are no so-called city gates—only sixteen massive doors for fortress trains, leading in all directions to the Overlord Federation's urban circle.

These walls are not for defending against giants, nor to restrict the citizens' freedom, but simply to protect the city from external invaders.

Although the entire Earth is divided among seven major conglomerates, their spheres of influence are still limited to their respective urban circles and the God Rings above their heads. In the wastelands and forests, which are like ruins, the territory is full of polluted, mutated beasts and marauders.

They are bloodthirsty, attacking almost everything they see. Attacks on the mining areas of the seven conglomerates happen from time to time. Fortunately, the cities are connected by sturdy railways, with trains equipped with all kinds of weapons and security forces serving as transport, maintaining basic logistics and travel.

No one dares to wander outside the city without any means of transportation. After all, there is a legal death penalty called... exile.

So, even though a whole hour had passed and the Overlord Guard Regiment had found nothing, William Parker still believed that Sarah Bolton and the girl in ice were still in the city.

Watching the busy warriors passing by, William Parker nonchalantly picked up a folding stool and walked along the roadside, naturally picking up a communication headset and directly cutting into everyone's communication channel.

"Hello Sarah Bolton, my name is William Parker, and I am the commander currently hunting you. I know you must be listening to me. With your intelligence, understanding enemy movements is a crucial survival rule."

William Parker seemed to be talking to the air, but Sarah Bolton was listening intently.

"I haven't encountered such an interesting prey in a long time. You don't seem to know fear at all, do you?" William Parker praised. "Someone as outstanding as you would have a bright future if you joined the Overlord Group. Why throw your life away in a godforsaken place like this?"

"Sorry, Lord Ye, you must not be used to the local environment, so you've forgotten—there are no birds left on the ground. The only things that fly are you high and mighty elites."

Sarah Bolton actually started talking?! Hammer signaled, and the information officers quickly began tracking the signal source.

Unfortunately, Sarah Bolton was just as clever. The headset he took originally belonged to Emily, who, as mayor, though not high-ranking, had an administrative level that meant his communication channels were automatically encrypted. The information officers couldn't obtain high-level group permissions to unlock the location and had to go through procedures for approval, which would take at least five minutes to get authorization.

"Truly bold and skilled—you even dare to speak. I have five minutes to lock down your position. You can choose to run now, or ask me questions. Whatever you ask, I swear on my dead mother, I will tell you everything." William Parker set the bait. For Sarah Bolton, this was a tough choice... but he didn't hesitate for even half a second.

"Why are you hunting Wu Xue?"

"It's not hunting, it's retrieval. That girl is the property of my Overlord Group, and only ended up on the ground because of an unexpected attack," William Parker actually answered.

"Who is she?" Sarah Bolton asked his second question.

"You should know about the Demigod race, right?" William Parker asked back, inexplicably.

"Fusion of ancient godstone dust, only one in ten thousand can complete the integration and trigger a gene mutation—those with abilities are collectively called... Are you deliberately wasting my time?" Sarah Bolton finished all of the above in almost ten seconds.