Chapter 55: Ah? The Four Heavenly Kings?

After the battle, the setting sun was like blood, and the battlefield was in a mess. The corpses of the White Wave rebels lay scattered haphazardly among the hills and valleys, still bearing expressions of terror and disbelief.

That a stately force of two thousand men could be defeated by an opponent numbering less than a tenth of their strength seemed utterly inconceivable in the eyes of these men who had only just taken up weapons.

Yet, to all of this, Su Yao paid no mind, nor did he care.

"It seems there are no other players here."

Su Yao muttered to himself quietly. It made sense; players rarely chose to follow the Yellow Turban route.

"Players?"

Yes, what Su Yao urgently needed to determine right now was whether he was playing a single-player game or had entered a multiplayer death game.

If it were a single-player game, he could take it easy, enjoying the game while waiting for rescue from the outside world.

But if it were that kind of multiplayer death game, he had to build up his strength as quickly as possible while simultaneously hunting down other competitors.

Compared to such a life-and-death crisis, the mere White Wave rabble before his eyes was not worth mentioning at all.

With a thud, Wang Dayan was dropped to the ground by Su Yao.

"Ouch, mercy, General, spare my life, General!"

Though he had no idea what a player was, Wang Dayan, having regained his freedom, hastily knelt at Su Yao's feet, clutching his injured arm and kowtowing incessantly.

"This humble person was forced to join the rebels! I was blind and dared to offend the General, please spare my life..."

This leader of the White Wave vanguard, who had just been full of spirit, brandishing his authority, playing the warlord, and dreaming the sweet dream of a local emperor, was trembling all over at this moment, cowering and extremely subservient.

Truly, circumstances compel a man!

Wang Dayan thought to himself that he must have had the worst of luck. They were told the Han imperial forces had collapsed and all they had to do was march north to take over the territory.

Who could have guessed from where such a fiercely capable imperial force would suddenly pop out?

Especially this young man before him, who was simply not human. He had merely glanced at him in the crowd, and who would have thought he would be chased relentlessly all the way, with countless men unable to stop him.

Pity the two old companions who had stayed by his side since he first started out; to save him, they were each stabbed through with a bloody hole without even leaving a last word.

Although he did not know why he had miraculously survived, he was now determined to seize a chance at life no matter what.

Yes, a miracle.

Wang Dayan had heard tales of the conduct of these imperial court soldiers.

They were brutal and bloodthirsty, showing no mercy to the Yellow Turban masses. In the past, an executioner named Huangfu Song had piled the bones of hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turban people into the world-famous Quyang pyramid of skulls.

As for other generals, they mostly treated the Yellow Turban adherents with utter extermination.

Wang Dayan had already despaired, but unexpectedly, that young general had merely struck him with a staff, knocked him off his horse, and captured him.

This had given him a rare glimmer of hope.

As long as he survived, he would definitely take revenge—

My ass!

How could the revenge of his subordinates be more important than his own life?

He couldn't even defeat a force of less than two hundred men with his two thousand; he certainly didn't want to experience another nightmare like this.

He was going to run as far away from Bingzhou as possible, find another big mountain, go back to being a carefree bandit king, rob houses and plunder villages every day, and snatch maidens—wasn't that much better than risking his head out in the world to contend for supremacy?

At this thought, he banged his head even harder against the ground, desiring only to escape with his life:

"Please let me go! I swear I won't follow the rebels anymore, I'll go home, farm the land, live an honest life, and never oppose the imperial court again!"

"Brother Su."

Lü Bu walked over slowly, looking at this rare scene before him, and could not help saying:

"Though I find it unlikely, surely you aren't going to believe his wild talk and let this rebel chieftain go, are you?"

Lü Bu had witnessed Su Yao's fierce slaughter; on the battlefield, Su Yao was the kind of person who might slice off your head even if you laid down your weapons.

Now he had actually taken a prisoner of his own accord—how unexpected.

Faced with Lü Bu's prejudice, Su Yao turned his head slightly and pouted. He was not a demon who killed everyone he saw.

At least when it came to enemies with value, he needed to fully exploit them first before deciding.

"Whether I kill him or not depends on whether he behaves himself."

"I'll behave! I'll be so well-behaved! Just look at my thick eyebrows and big eyes—I guarantee I'll do whatever you want me to do."

Wang Dayan frantically made funny faces and even tugged persistently at the hem of Su Yao's trousers.

This NPC's sickening behavior made Su Yao unable to resist lifting his foot and kicking him away:

"Speak—whose subordinate are you, how many people came with you on this trip, and what is your objective..."

Under Wang Dayan's rattle-like answers, Su Yao and the others finally gained a certain degree of understanding regarding this faction of the White Wave army.

The current supreme boss of the White Wave army was Guo Tai, a former subordinate general of the Yellow Turban army.

After the great battle at Quyang, some of the surviving Yellow Turban remnants had fled to the Taihang Mountains, using the shelter of the mountains to continue their activities, giving rise to countless valley bandits such as the Black Mountain, Huanglong, White Wave, and Zuoxiao factions.

Guo Tai of the White Wave used this place to recuperate, train troops, and prepare for the right moment.

Finally, he waited for the opportunity when the Xiongnu wreaked havoc in Bingzhou and destroyed the Bingzhou legions, thus taking advantage of the momentum to raise the banner of rebellion in the White Wave Valley of Xihe, throwing Hedong into chaos and advancing troops toward Taiyuan.

His ultimate goal was to cut Bingzhou in half at the waist, link up with the Black Mountain army in the eastern Taihang Mountains, and then contend for the Central Plains together to rebuild the great Yellow Turban enterprise.

At the same time, amidst these years of fleeing and resisting, Guo Tai had promoted and cultivated the Four Heavenly Kings to protect him—no, wait, the Four Great Generals to command for him.

They were Vanguard General Yang Feng, Rearguard General Li Le, Left Vanguard General Han Xian, and Right Vanguard General Hu Cai. Aside from Guo Tai, who commanded twenty thousand troops, the rest each led ten thousand men.

Yes, the so-called one hundred thousand White Wave troops actually numbered at most a little over sixty thousand, with the remaining forty thousand consisting of camp followers, elderly dependents, and other non-combatants.

"This humble person is merely a minor soldier under that Vanguard General—bah, rebel chieftain Yang Feng.

This is everything I know. I only hope the General will show mercy, forgive this humble person, and let me go home to farm."

"Bah! General, do not listen to this bastard's nonsense!"

The sudden interruption caused Su Yao and Lu Bu to turn their heads, only to see Cheng Lian escorting a young man with a yellow turban wrapped around his head and blood staining the corners of his mouth.

"Tunzhang, this person is a captured rebel commander of the left division. He just said he has vital matters to report to you. This subordinate did not know how to handle it, so..."

To report a grievance?

Su Yao looked at the indignant youth, then turned to look at the pale-faced Wang Dayan, nodded, and decided to see what kind of event this was.

"General, this man is by no means some kind of innocent peasant, but a mountain bandit who kills without blinking, rapes, plunders, and commits every conceivable evil!"

"Lin Qingzhi—I, Wang Dayan, have treated you quite well on ordinary days! Not only did I give you good food and drink, provided for your entire family, but I even made you my second-in-command.

Today, not only did you refuse to fight to the death to protect me, but now you bite the hand that fed you and run here to frame me. You are truly wolf-hearted and devoid of gratitude!"

"Treated me well? You burned down my ancestral home, seized my younger sister by force, and coerced my entire family into becoming outlaws with you. Is that how you, Wang Dayan, treated me well?"

Lin Qingzhi wept tears of blood as he kowtowed.

"Please, General, punish this wicked scoundrel and seek justice for us!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Dayan realized things were taking a terrible turn. He frantically resumed hammering his head against the ground, arguing:

"General, I am wronged! This ungrateful wretch is slandering me with malicious lies. You must believe me, I—I have witnesses!"

Su Yao blinked, looking at the two NPCs kowtowed fiercely, feeling it was a bit tricky. He hadn't expected a case-solving event to pop up!

It was one thing that this shifty-eyed Wang Dayan didn't look like a good person to begin with, but was this decent-looking Lin Qingzhi really any sort of innocent soul?

No, no, the crux of the issue was that he already had a plan on how to deal with these people, so what was the meaning of this event popping up right now?

Thus, he looked at Lü Bu and asked:

"How does Lord Lü see this?"