Chapter 136: The Great Battle of Windhear City (VI)

Utter silence.

No one understood the reason behind this sudden turn of events. The agitated crowd instantly froze, the scene falling as quiet as a meditation room where the elderly monk had stopped tapping his wooden fish. Pair after pair of wide eyes stared fixedly at Zhao Nan, who lay motionless on the ground before the door.

Fuyun suddenly felt an uncomfortable itch on his face, caused by a bead of cold sweat crawling down his forehead.

Right across Zhao Nan’s pierced left chest, a patch of crimson stained his clothes and gradually expanded.

Just like that... dead?

This abrupt change left everyone incapable of thought. Almost everyone knew that a stab to the heart was a fatal injury.

"Wait... his HP hasn't dropped much!" Lin羽 pointed and shouted.

His words jolted the rest. Suddenly, Zhao Nan’s body twitched. His right hand reached out, grabbed the dagger, and pulled it out with a forceful jerk. The blade was stained bright red with blood, and the area around his left chest was a shocking, vivid scarlet.

Zhao Nan staggered to his feet, looked down at the dagger in his hand, and then swept his gaze across everyone present. With a ferocious expression, he sneered, "What a pity... my heart was born on the right side."

Ah!

Fuyun gasped, shifting from tension to relief, and blurted out, "That's wonderful!"

"It is not wonderful!"

Zhao Nan let out a cold snort. Pointing at the entire crowd, he spoke in a tone akin to a volcanic eruption, "I fought with my life to restore Listen-Wind City! And today, I end up in this state. If my anatomy weren't different from ordinary people, I would have lost my life right here on the spot! Had I known this would happen, I wouldn't have bothered saving this city at all!"

With a fierce and sinister glare, he suddenly burst into wild, crazed laughter, "Since I could commit countless evil deeds in just a few days, adding one more brutal charge won't make a difference! I don't know which of you is targeting me, and I don't care anymore! Today, I’ll let you all witness what true ruthlessness and cruelty look like!"

Lin Yu’s expression shifted in alarm, and he blurted out, "Zhao Nan, what are you trying to do?"

Zhao Nan suddenly grew calm, his voice as dead as stagnant water, "You can betray me, so why can't I betray you all? Let everything return to where it started."

"Don't be rash!"

Without stopping, Zhao Nan swung his hand fiercely as if driven by malice. At that very moment, the bodies of everyone present were suddenly dragged downward. Before they could figure out what was happening, one after another, they were completely expelled beyond the boundaries of Listen-Wind City. Hundreds upon hundreds of terrified screams filled the air, sounding like weeping ghosts.

It wasn't just the people inside the City Lord's Castle; even the scattered players who hadn't come over and were dispersed throughout Listen-Wind City were dragged out from various locations. Clueless as to what was happening, the crowd converged in mid-air and was swept entirely out of the city.

......

By the time the players at the scene were completely cleared out, dozens of people still remained before the gates of the City Lord's Castle. They walked over to Zhao Nan one by one and stood respectfully with lowered heads.

Zhao Nan said in a low voice, "Go collect your reward from Steward Blade-Edge."

"Yes, my lord."

The dozens of people expressed their gratitude and walked past Zhao Nan's sides into the City Lord's Castle. Zhao Nan closed the door himself, then traced a line in the empty air. A hazy rift instantly split open before him, and a shadowy figure stepped out.

As soon as she emerged, the masked person in black walked up to Zhao Nan, reached out to touch his wound, and softly asked, "Does it hurt?"

"You little fool, this is just some dye," Zhao Nan chuckled softly. "What about you? Having your five senses directly stripped away in the prison, were you scared?"

"No. You told me about it beforehand. I was prepared."

She removed her mask, revealing a cascade of shimmering gold hair. The person in black was none other than Finina.

Zhao Nan patted her cheek and said with tender pity, "You've worked hard."

Finina chuckled lightly, "It's nothing. Running back and forth to the temple is actually quite easy."

With that, she produced a short horn from her hand and asked, "What should we do with this Beguiling Horn?"

"Keep it to play with," Zhao Nan said casually. "This thing is worth at least two thousand contribution points anyway; it'd be a waste to throw it away."

Finina nodded. At that moment, Ye Anya came out wearing pajamas and hugging a long round pillow. She gave a small yawn and held up her little notebook.

She wrote: "What happened? It's so noisy."

Zhao Nan patted the little loli's head and smiled, "Just catching some mice outside the city, nothing serious. Go back to sleep."

The little loli wrote again: "What is that in your hand?"

Zhao Nan shook the blood-stained dagger in his hand and smiled, "This? It's a toy."

He pressed the dagger against his palm; the blade automatically retracted into the hilt, leaving only the very tip exposed. He smiled and said, "Though it's a toy, it's not suitable for children to play with."

The little loli continued writing: "This-this one is thirteen years old!"

Amused, Finina patted Ye Anya's small head and said softly, "Oh, wow, in another two years, you'll be old enough to get married!"

The little loli's face turned red, and she quickly wrote: "This-this one is going to sleep."

Ye Anya let out another yawn, hugged her pillow, and turned to walk away. The two exchanged a smile, and Finina then asked, "With so many people, staying outside the city indefinitely isn't a solution."

Zhao Nan sneered, "The autumn wind is cool; let them freeze a bit longer."

......

There was indeed a hint of chill outside the city, but it wasn't cold at all. With a little over ten thousand people gathered together, their combined body heat was enough to warm the place up. Moreover, they were in a monster zone—granted, only level 1 and level 2 low-level monsters—so people had to stay active. Otherwise, getting bitten by these creatures, even if it wouldn't kill you right away, would hurt like hell.

Those who couldn't figure out the situation kept cursing endlessly; some had been directly expelled right out of their sleep. Those who did grasp the situation were busy sorting out the chaos on the scene.

It wasn't until dawn that the crowd of over ten thousand finally managed to organize themselves.

"He's gone mad! He actually dared to do this!" Lin Yu couldn't help sighing.

Fuyun smiled bitterly, "Everyone saw what happened just now. To be accused by so many people under those circumstances, and then ambushed and nearly killed at the end—anyone would hold a grudge."

"But we didn't know anything! We weren't even at the scene!" Someone jumped out and shouted angrily, "Are you guys fucking morons? Can one person commit hundreds of evil crimes in a few days, killing hundreds back and forth, snatching treasures and raping women? Even a fighter jet isn't that fast! This is clearly a frame-up, can't you guys tell?"

Lin Yu shook his head; he simply couldn't understand why the public sentiment had been so overwhelmingly violent at the time, completely uncontrollable.

"But he really did kill Boss Huang Kun and the others! There's even a recording crystal as evidence!" A mage produced a recording crystal and argued fiercely.

"Are you fucking stupid? This is obviously a frame-up, can't you see that? The recording is from so far away you can't even see the person's face clearly! Even if it is a person, with a little makeup you wouldn't recognize them anyway. Besides, he was assassinated—that was obviously pushed by someone behind the scenes! Revenge? I'll give you m*th*rfu—wait, why do you have this thing? Were you there at the time..." The speaker's expression turned fierce. "Could it be that you planned this conspiracy?"

The mage was so frightened he dropped the recording crystal to the ground, waved his hands frantically, and cried out in panic, "Someone had this sent to me! It wasn't me, it wasn't me!"

"What the fuck, what kind of idiot IQ is this!" Finally, someone else couldn't help cursing angrily, "Who sent it to you? Can't you even see through such a simple, premeditated setup?"

The mage's face turned pale as he trembled, "Th-then what do we do now?"

At this point, who still had any thoughts of revenge? Everyone had been expelled from the city, unable to enter any safe zones, left to brave the northwest wind in the monster zone. In the end, they were all facing death by starvation.

"He's a madman! Think of how many lives this is!"

"Shut your fucking trap! If you were framed, then assassinated, and almost died, wouldn't you hold a grudge? Wouldn't you be ruthless?"

"This..."

Yes, having survived an ordeal like that, who could claim they wouldn't hold a grudge? Who could claim they wouldn't be ruthless?

Fuyun couldn't help shouting out, "Stop arguing, all of you! I'll try contacting him. Maybe he was just carried away by momentary anger."

Lin Yu shook his head, "I tried a long time ago. My mails got no response; he probably disabled notifications... or outright rejected incoming messages..."

Just then, an exclamation came from the crowd. A youth-looking person shouted loudly, "Brother Yu? What is going on, you guys?"

"Xiaoyou?"

Xiong You and Yanan were seen walking out of the crowd with puzzled expressions. Xiong You asked, "What's this about being expelled? What on earth happened?"

Lin Yu shook his head, "You guys don't know?"

Xiong You said matter-of-factly, "Xiaonan and I were on a quest. We've been out of the city for two days and just got back."

A thought stirred in Lin Yu's mind, "Xiaoyou... do you think you can enter the city?"

Xiong You looked puzzled, "What do you mean, can or can't?"

Lin Yu urged, "Don't ask questions yet, go try walking in!"

Muttering under his breath, Xiong You had no choice but to walk toward the edge of Listen-Wind City's safe zone. However, with pairs of eyes staring at his back, he felt an inexplicable, crushing pressure.

One step, two steps, three steps—Xiong You walked into the safe zone with absolute ease.

Overjoyed, Lin Yu immediately exclaimed, "Xiaoyou, we're counting on you this time! Everyone's lives are in your hands!"

"Huh...?"

Meanwhile, Listen-Wind City had far more native residents than Chosen Ones. Therefore, after dawn, the streets and alleys didn't show much change, save for the occasional shop owner cursing the Chosen Ones for not showing up to work and calling them unreliable scum.

Inside the City Lord's Castle, however, it was exceptionally quiet.

The three of them were having breakfast. Though Ye Anya had a small frame, her appetite was astonishingly large. Having known her for less than three days, Zhao Nan felt he needed to properly inquire about her background.

A class that used a guqin as a weapon was something he had never even heard of, given his extensive knowledge.

"Anya, what is your class?"

Since he had decided to ask, he certainly wasn't going to hem and haw.

Ye Anya tilted her head in thought for a moment, looked at Zhao Nan, then at Finina, and finally pulled the little notebook in front of her, picking up her pen to write.

Right at that moment, Blade-Edge walked in and reported respectfully, "My lord, Mr. Xiong You says he wishes to see you."