A cold wind blew into the prison late at night, and the distant War College was totally silent.
"Kill, kill them all!"
Shouts rang out and echoed about. All of a sudden, killing shouts were heard amid the silent backdrop. The prisoners inside the cells thought that they were having a better life, but who knew that misfortune would soon befall them? The prisoners were all given weapons. Following which, all of them who had been through countless battles wielded these blades and hundreds of heads rolled to the ground. In no more than twenty minutes, seven thousand plus prisoners left the camp and headed toward the Waterfront City.
……
In the bushes, my body flashed. Situ Xin looked at me with his mouth twitching. "Master Li, can actually remain invisible in the bushes; what an expert!"
I smiled. "You should learn more, young one."
Situ Xin grinned. "I know… Should we chase them now?"
"No rush. Let them run for half an hour. Anyways, they don't have any horses. Just let the War Hawk Knights follow above while not being noticed by them."
"Yes!"
……
In the end, the prisoners were quite smart. They knew that they had to pass War God River, Questioning Heaven Snow Mountain to get to Waterfront City, so they went through Ba Huang City. We allowed them to go. Only when they were half an hour in did we set out. Horse hoof sounds spread out and the Heavy-armored Cavalry holding huge flags dashed out. These were the five thousand Cavalry led by Han Yuan.
"Why are you here?" I walked out.
Han Yuan laughed. He jumped off and cupped his fists. "General, I was worried that they'd harm your life, so I brought the Royal Army troops to guard you. Please don't blame me for not following your orders to guard War God River."
"Forget it. Don't do it next time."
"Yes!"
Although military orders were the most important, Han Yuan, Xiao Lie, and Xia Ye were not stupid. They only came over to help after knowing that War God River was safe. After all, they were doing so for my safety. Han Yuan was used to killing and seeing people get killed, so he was worried that I might get killed. Although I was a player and did not care about many things, Han Yuan did care about my life. There were many things that he did not understand and did not need to understand.
……
We chased the prisoners, and when we were at the pass of Ba Huang City, the hundreds of guards were all killed. It seemed like we owed Angela a favor for releasing them.
A while later, King's Hunt event began. Further ahead was a patch of ice plains. This was Questioning Heaven Ice Plains, which was one of the special maps for the hunt. Many prisoner corpses could be seen; a lot of them had frozen to their deaths here.
I rode the God Dragon Horse while Situ Xin and Han Yuan followed. Han Yuan had five thousand Royal Army Cavalry; Situ Xin, on the other hand, led ten thousand Guards Army’s Heavy-armored Cavalry. We had enough members and our mobility allowed us to head deep in. Situ Xin coughed. "Master Li, do you think that Floating Clouds will accept them?"
I grabbed God Dragon Horse's reins and maintained the speed. "Tough to say. If Floating Clouds wants to maintain good relations with Tian Ling City, she won't. If she wants to take over as the ruler and rely on the India Region players to fight with Tian Ling City, then she will."
Situ Xin was shocked. "India Region players?"
"Oh, Waterfront City's adventurers…"
"Oh." Situ Xin understood and smiled. "How strong are Waterfront City's adventurers? Can they block our empire's Cavalry?"
I laughed. "Don't underestimate the power of adventurers. To some extent, they are the ones deciding the wars."
Situ Xin's expression turned solemn. "Yes, I understand!"
……
In the guild channel, Yue Qing Qian also sent news. In less than a day, over twenty million Indian players had joined Waterfront City's five armies. This meant that we would at least face twenty million people. As time went on and people got off work and school, at least fifty million would battle with us.
However, maybe due to the tight time constraints, our fifteen thousand stuck right in. We did not face any resistance even when we were near Waterfront City. Many Waterfront City players appeared and their names were all red, but they did not attack us. Fifteen thousand NPC elites, without the one hundred thousand players, no one would dare to risk their lives, right?
I ordered the Cavalry to guard the forest. I led Han Yuan and Situ Xin out, just in time to see the prisoners arrive. As expected, Floating Clouds and Xing Huo showed up. Floating Clouds was in a white robe, and she was wearing a crane neck-shaped crown. She spoke with the prisoners and smiled before bringing the seven thousand of them in.
"She really decided to betray His Majesty!" Situ Xin clenched his fists in rage.
I nodded. "Right. We should've expected this. She's Luo Xun's woman; Lochlan accepted that I killed Luo Xun, so this woman definitely hates us!"
Situ Xin looked at me and smiled. "Master Li, do you regret that?"
I took a deep breath. "Never. If Luo Xun didn't die, Tian Ling Empire would only be even messier!"
Situ Xin smiled. "At the start, I questioned your actions before, but I can confirm now that your decision hasn’t been wrong. If Luo Xun didn't die, the empire would get more chaotic and the power struggle would be even worse."
I nodded. "Retreat to War God River and prepare to fight. King's Hunt is about to begin. Since Floating Clouds decided to betray Tian Ling City, she would definitely attack."
"Yes!"
……
When we rushed back to War God River, we noticed that many players and armies were there. War God River's forest was covered in tents. It was impossible for the Indian players to sneak-attack. The Royal Army's camp was there, and many Dragon Crystal Cannons had been set up. Many Flame Hawk Archers were resting and the Cavalry were resting, too.
Chi Yu Qing held her whip and walked over. "Sir, the Archers are resting, but we need large quantities of meat to feed the hawks; otherwise, they’ll lose the ability to fly."
I looked at Han Yuan. "Solve it."
Han Yuan replied, "Resource officer, come out!"
A soldier galloped out. "General Han, I am here!"
Han Yuan said, "Prepare three thousand cows and sheep to feed these hawks; do you get it? Take everything out from the Royal Army's storage!"
"Yes, sir! I'll go do that now!"
……
War God River was covered in troops. Fire Axe came, too. Luo Fei was a young general who had been raised by Situ Xin. He was much better than Louis. In the crowd, Wang Zecheng held a spear and ordered his ten thousand men. There was an old general under him, and he was the one-armed Louis.
"Louis, your troops are too slow!" Wang Zecheng said impatiently.
Louis was a marquis, but now he was a major. He could only nod his head, saying, "I'll urge them to speed up; don't worry, general!"
I walked past them. Han Yuan, Xiao Lie, Long Xing, and Xie Ye followed behind me. Han Yuan looked at Louis and teased, "I didn't expect Marquis Louis to end up like this. You probably shouldn't have become a soldier!"
Louis was shocked. One move and it had to be incorrect. He should not have joined Luo Xun; if not, he would not have ended up like this. Louis was not a player and could not hide or shirk responsibility. Wang Zecheng was currently abusing his power over him. I felt a little sour looking at Louis, so I said, "Han Yuan, stop being rude to the marquis!"
"Yes, general." Han Yuan laughed.
Louis looked at me with exhaustion on his face. "Commander in chief, you are here, too?"
I nodded. "Floating Clouds and Xing Huo have taken over Waterfront City. As the Royal Army General, I have to take responsibility."
Louis smiled. "That is true. You are The Executor of the empire, the general above all and just below one…"
I said, "Marquis, don't have to worry so much. Do what you should and one day the world will answer to you."
"I hope so…"
……
We walked further in and arrived at the Violent Thunder Army camp. Xu Yan was preparing for battle, but his expression was not good. It was easy to see that Floating Clouds had just given him a good night before leaving to join Xing Huo. Maybe he was still thinking back to that, and now he was like a dejected kid.
When I was looking at the various armies, a War Hawk Knight landed and said, "General, a bunch of Waterfront City adventurers have appeared on Fire Marsh Plains; should we attack them?"
