Chapter Ninety-Four: Let Us Go to Battle!

Those dozens of sacks of elf cookies piled on the floor were real enough, but Di Qiang gave a cold snort. "Who knows whether you stockpiled them before Windlisten City fell?"

"Don't worry. I have plenty of time to prove it." Zhao Nan said indifferently, "One backpack slot can hold at most ninety-nine of the same item. I think if you filled a room like this, you'd probably exceed the backpack's capacity. Besides, food has a shelf life. Elf cookies last at most ten days. It has been nearly a month since Windlisten City fell, hasn't it?"

He looked at the crowd, not only those speaking with him now, but the people behind them and those outside the door, and said directly, "Want to try?"

"No way! You're lying!" Di Qiang struggled wildly, his body twisting and thrashing.

Zhao Nan rewarded him with another knee to the stomach and said coldly, "Anyone can demand that I prove myself, except you."

"I don't believe it! You're lying to me! You're all lying to me! I don't believe it!" Di Qiang sucked in a ragged breath and roared, "I don't believe it!"

Bang!

A wooden stool smashed viciously into Di Qiang's head. The stool shattered on impact, and blood instantly poured from his scalp as he collapsed unconscious once more. Xiong You was holding the remaining half of a stool leg, smiling shyly. "Can I knock this guy out?"

"You already did, young friend..." Lin Yu said with a frown.

"Is that so? Heh heh..."

...

"Enough with the extra words. I only want to ask you this... is what you said true?" Lin Yu had regained his composure and did not even glance at the abundant food on the ground.

"Time will prove my words."

Zhao Nan gave a light chuckle, then once again extended his left hand and pointed. This time, what spilled out of his backpack were bag after bag of clear water. "As long as you understand that having acquaintances in another city is not really such a strange thing."

"It is indeed nothing strange," Lin Yu said with a bitter smile. "And yet in our case, such a thing really did happen."

"That only proves you were unlucky."

"It's enough that we're not unlucky now." Lin Yu shrugged and spoke very directly. "So, what conditions do you want? Supporting us without conditions? The cost of cross-city mail delivery isn't small. Even with Di Qiang, we had to pay a great deal to exchange for food from his hands."

"Any kind of conditions?" Zhao Nan asked.

"At worst, nothing more than someone like Di Qiang." Lin Yu said self-mockingly. "Even someone like Di Qiang, I can still endure for now. It seems my tolerance has improved quite a bit... As for them, since they've already gotten used to Di Qiang, they probably won't mind too much if a second Di Qiang shows up."

The words were deeply sarcastic. The faces of the three people standing before Lin Yu all darkened at once. Yet none of them had any retort to offer; they could only keep silent and cast more and more of their attention upon the food and water bags on the ground.

"Exactly... it's just changing masters." One of them shook his head and sighed. "For me... and for most people, there is no difference."

"What a pity that my provisions are not meant to feed people who have lost the courage to live," Zhao Nan said coldly. "I'd rather let them rot in my backpack!"

"What do you want?" another man frowned. "We can satisfy anything you ask!"

"I need people to fight." Zhao Nan had already lost the patience to continue speaking in detail with these people, who had been worn down by servitude into a kind of psychological numbness.

He had to dose them with something stronger.

"I have a way to restore Windlisten City's Soul Crystal, but it requires a lot of manpower for battle." He looked at them. "My food will only go to those willing to fight!"

"What method?"

Questions filled with curiosity and excitement burst up at once, growing noisy and chaotic.

"By killing the monster guarding the Soul Crystal, you'll have the way to restore it."

The moment those words fell, silence slammed down over the room. It was so quiet you could nearly hear a pin drop.

"If that's the case... then please let Di Qiang go. That monster cannot be killed. Rather than die for nothing, I'd rather keep living like this!"

"Then keep living like this, then." Zhao Nan gave a cold snort.

He walked to Fenina's side, suddenly pulled the sword from her waist, and with a backward twist of his arm, a flash of steel gleamed. Di Qiang's head was severed in the midst of unconsciousness, the long blade slicing it away. It rolled across the floor, and until death came, he never even knew that he was already dead.

"Live on in despair." Zhao Nan looked at the stunned crowd and said in a deep voice, "Anyone who wants revenge can come. I'll be waiting."

With that, he swung his arm hard. The longsword scraped against the side wall, throwing off sparks and emitting a grating shriek. When the blade finally came to rest, a deep sword mark had already been carved into the wall.

Just how monstrous must his raw attributes be to cut into a wall in a safe zone as though it were paper? Lin Yu's eyelid twitched hard, and cold sweat had already begun to bead in his palm.

"Kill the monster beneath the Soul Crystal, and you will have a way to restore Windlisten City." Zhao Nan repeated himself. "My food can be provided to those willing to follow me into battle. If you don't want to, then stay in your corners! Figure out on your own how you're going to survive! From now on, anyone unwilling to fight, get out of here! Out of my sight!"

"Zhao Nan... isn't that going too far?" Lin Yu could not help but speak up.

"You too." Zhao Nan looked at Lin Yu without caring one way or another. "What I want is manpower, combat strength, not livestock. Start choosing now!"

With that, Zhao Nan stored all the food and water on the ground back into his backpack. He sat to one side, saying nothing, and simply watched the people before him.

No one dared move. Whispered discussion slowly rose. Perhaps if they all rushed him together, they could definitely bring him down... but the problem was that none of them wanted to be the first to become a victim beneath his sword.

Lin Yu shook his head. This was no longer mere domineering behavior. It was force.

With a sigh, Lin Yu took a few steps forward and turned to the people under his command. "Everyone. I am willing to go and kill that monster myself. This kind of life is enough. Since we've had enough, then let's at least act like human beings and fight with everything we have! Of course, those who do not wish to join, I, Lin Yu, won't force you. From now on, we can still be friends."

After saying that, he silently walked to Zhao Nan's side. Without further nonsense, he took action, expressing his willingness to join the operation to slay the mutated Soul-Devouring Python King.

"Brother Yu!"

"Let's fight side by side." Lin Yu patted Xiong You on the shoulder and smiled faintly.

At this point, seeing that the others were still hesitating, Zhao Nan inwardly sighed that these people's courage had already deserted them. Slightly disappointed, he said, "So only Lin Yu is joining? Fine, then I won't wait here anymore. There isn't only one safe zone in Windlisten City. Surely there are still people with backbone somewhere."

"Wait..."

One person stood up at that moment. "Lin Yu, I believe you! I don't want to keep living like this either! If you die, then so be it. If we succeed, there will be good days ahead. Being afraid is what cowards do! I have backbone!"

"Way to go, Brother Fei!" Xiong You hurriedly gave a thumbs-up and shouted loudly, "What are you all standing there for? Have you all lost your backbone?"

"I don't have any backbone, because I'm a woman. But I don't want to be useless." After Fei Ge, a delicate-looking woman also stood up. Brushing back the loose hair on her face, she looked at Zhao Nan with bright eyes. "I can follow you into battle, but you must give me some supplies in advance. My husband has just lost an arm; he needs treatment and supplies. Don't worry, I'll do twice as much work."

"Take it."

Zhao Nan did not waste words either. He opened his backpack and tossed food, water, and healing items toward the woman, and there was quite a lot of them.

"Thank you!" The woman thanked him gratefully and quickly walked back, the people around her making way.

At the far end of where everyone stood, a pale-faced man who had lost an arm leaned bleakly against the wall.

"If you feel you can't fight, then train your secondary profession properly. To save your wife, you ought to live on with a little more courage." Zhao Nan said calmly, "Of course, that is provided your secondary profession isn't something like a fisherman or a cook."

"I'm an enchanter!" the man said loudly.

Zhao Nan raised an eyebrow. "What level?"

"Fourteen!"

Zhao Nan nodded and opened his backpack. One after another, shimmering crystals clattered to the ground. "There are a hundred Radiant Crystals here. Take them and practice. If you're lucky, you might even gain a level."

This was a carrot.

Lin Yu's expression changed slightly. This young man before him did not talk much nonsense, nor did he paint any grand and beautiful blueprint. Instead, he was winning people over through the most direct means. He knew how to make people feel hope.

No, no... he was not merely winning over that couple's loyalty. He was staging a performance, a show in which he had endless supplies and, so long as you helped him well, he would never treat you unfairly. And the audience for that performance was the group of people who had been worn numb by Di Qiang's enslavement and lost all courage.

The one-armed enchanter was now staring at the pile of Radiant Crystals on the ground, so moved that tears welled in his eyes.

Just one day earlier, because of his own injury, his wife had already planned to go ask Di Qiang for help. If she went to that man, given her situation, what would happen next was not hard to imagine. As a man, how could he endure that?

And now, the situation had taken a complete turn.

"Many thanks!"

The one-armed enchanter braced himself and slammed his head three times hard against the floor. The crisp thudding sounded like bells, each strike resonating straight into the heart.

Zhao Nan looked at him with slight surprise, unable to make sense of his excitement. But this sort of reaction was truly excellent.

Because this was a very good beginning.

After that husband and wife, many of the people who had originally stood with Lin Yu's side began to declare that they were willing to join the plan to wipe out the mutated Soul-Devouring Python King.

For those willing to fight, Zhao Nan naturally kept his promise and was not the least bit stingy with supplies. He handed them out on the spot to those willing to join.

Watching those bags and bags of full provisions being distributed, the people who had initially refused to fight could no longer pretend not to see.

Di Qiang was dead, and the source of supplies had been cut off. If they did not agree to Zhao Nan's demands, then aside from going out personally to hunt monsters, they would have no other way to obtain food!