174: The curtain shattered

Xu Le's question seemed to press the pause button on the world; everyone at the banquet stopped what they were doing.

Xu Le shook his head and smiled, "If it's inconvenient to say, then forget it."

He was just curious, but he didn't have the kind of mindset that wouldn't rest until he got the gossip.

Liu Yang knew that since this place had been discovered and they couldn't silence him, it would be troublesome if they didn't convince Xu Le.

"Would it be convenient for you to tell us who you are?"

"Me?" Countless labels flashed through Xu Le's mind, most of which didn't seem very honorable.

"I suppose I'm a freshman at the Demon Slaying Academy."

"A freshman!!!"

Liu Yang exclaimed, and everyone stood up, as if they had heard news of the century.

Xu Le's appearance did look like a freshman, but the air about him didn't seem like one at all.

"Which Aristocratic Family are you from?"

Liu Yang's words were polite, but his eyes had already turned cold.

Not just Liu Yang, but most of those present fell silent. Even the people Xu Le had saved were eating in silence.

Xu Le keenly noticed this and stated his situation.

Since he wanted to ask others, he naturally couldn't hide his own background.

One of the soldiers suddenly jumped up, "I know him, he's a wanted criminal of the Great Zhou, a killer of the Aristocratic Families, a brutal executioner comparable to Huang Chao."

Xu Le: "..."

Everyone: "..."

That soldier: "..."

Although what the soldier said was true, Xu Le still felt as uncomfortable as if he'd eaten a dog; his reputation was ruined.

The crowd's gazes became strange. If Xu Le had previously been a divine figure like Zhuge Liang in their hearts, he had now turned into the blood-soaked Bai Qi.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Only Liu Yang looked at Xu Le with admiration, and the others followed suit, clapping.

However, their faces were still filled with rejection, and they were insincere, so Xu Le waved his hand and took his leave.

Since he wasn't welcomed, there was no need to force himself to stay.

The crowd felt relieved.

Liu Yang was so angry that he slammed the table and cursed, "Are you all brainless?"

"Liu Dong, tell me carefully, what did you see online?"

"Be detailed, don't leave anything out, or I'll punish you tenfold for surfing the internet without permission."

Liu Dong shuddered. To avoid exposing this place, they were strictly forbidden from contacting the outside world, and surfing the internet was the most forbidden of all.

Thus, he recounted everything he had seen online, point by point.

Liu Yang had an "as I expected" expression and questioned them repeatedly, "Look, it's clearly persecution by the Aristocratic Families. They say he colluded with the Evil God, but would someone who colluded with the Evil God save you? Shouldn't those disgusting Aristocratic Families be killed? I only regret that I wasn't there at the time to join the fight!"

Only then did Xu Le realize that they were all survivors of the Tenth District.

When the God Descent Cult ambushed the City Lord, those from the Aristocratic Families didn't help fight the enemy, but instead attacked the City Lord's mansion first to seize the Teleportation Array.

The morale of the army was in chaos, monsters were at the gates, and they urgently requested reinforcements from the Great Zhou royalty, but after holding out for three consecutive days, not a single soldier arrived to support them.

"Hatred!"

"If the royal family had let us retreat to the Ninth District at the first opportunity, at least millions of people could have been saved."

"If the Aristocratic Families hadn't stolen all the energy stones from the treasury when they fled, at least ten thousand more people could have escaped."

"But none of that happened!"

"The Tenth District was an isolated city, abandoned by the world, yet they still made us hold our ground. Tell me, what was the point of us holding out?"

As Liu Yang spoke, he smashed the wine glass in his hand. His gray beard trembled, and his tiger-like eyes stared at the crowd, like a wolf eyeing lambs.

Xu Le was so angry his lungs were about to explode, "You're saying the royal family ordered you to hold out, you held out for three days, yet you didn't receive any support?"

Liu Yang sneered in anger and brought out a box from his bedroom, which was filled with evidence he had kept from back then.

Letters of request for aid from the Tenth District, orders from the royal family, and battle reports from the Tenth District.

The defense of the outer city, the battle for the outer city, the defense of the inner city, the battle for the inner city, the street-to-street slaughter, the defense of the City Lord's mansion, the breakout from the City Lord's mansion...

The more Xu Le read, the more shocking it was; lively lives seemed to wither before his eyes.

He really couldn't imagine the royal family's actions; it wasn't even a case of hurting others without benefiting themselves, it was clearly harming both others and themselves!

Betraying the people of a city, losing the territory of a city, and shaking the foundation of a country.

One couldn't do something like this without a hundred years of being an idiot.

Why would the Great Zhou Emperor do such a thing?

"Do you mind if I copy all of this?" Xu Le took a deep breath. Thinking of his own past experiences, he faintly understood that he, too, had been a sacrificial pawn.

Soon, all the materials were copied for Xu Le.

Heh! "Half an hour" to destroy the Tenth District. I was wondering why the God Descent Cult, if they were so powerful, acted like cowards, only daring to pull stunts in the dark. So that was it!

Hum...

A roaring sound came.

It sounded like thousands of electric motors vibrating at a high frequency in his ears simultaneously, followed by the sound of glass shattering.

Xu Le only felt a veil before his eyes shatter, and then, a sky full of Devilish Qi surged over.

"Damn, the concealment veil has shattered!"

Liu Yang stood up with a start and rushed out of the hall immediately.

He saw the villagers also leaving their homes one after another, with looks of melancholy.

With the resistance of most low-level life professions, they wouldn't be able to hold out for half an hour before being corrupted, and at most half a day, they would have their sanity stolen and turn into mindless demon corpses.

Xu Le released his Mind Link and finally discovered the hidden enemies.

A full hundred people were actually hiding in the shadows nearby.

He took out his staff, his magic power surged, and a blue lotus flower appeared in the hidden shadows.

"Go!"

A cold voice rang out, and countless shadows darted out from the darkness, like ghosts.

But many more shadows were a step slower and were caught by the blooming flower.

Boom, boom, boom!

Over fifty people didn't escape in time and were directly turned into raging blue flames, wailing in agony on the spot.

In less than three seconds, they were completely reduced to ashes.

Hiss~

Whether it was the enemies or the villagers, everyone couldn't help but gasp.

Even for many Advanced fire magic spells, it was very difficult to burn people to ashes, let alone Xu Le, who had used a mere three seconds to burn dozens of people to ashes simultaneously. The temperature must have been over ten thousand degrees.

The enemies who escaped also secretly felt lucky; if they hadn't reacted in time, they would have also become part of that pile of ashes.

"Kill!"

The leading shadow vanished from the spot, and when it reappeared, it was already behind Xu Le, a cold dagger in its hand already stabbing toward his heart.

"Protect!"

The two Yellow Turban Strongmen in front shouted and raised their shields; the leading shadow uncontrollably retracted its blade and stabbed at the shields.

"Stab!"

Two Yellow Turban Strongmen holding spears thrust their spears simultaneously, like dragons emerging from the sea, sealing off the leading assassin's room to dodge and stabbing straight at his heart.

Acting in unison, three fireballs also flew through the air in a beautiful arc, firmly enveloping the assassin.

Xu Le gave up the thought of putting away his staff and drawing his blade, feeling secretly pleased. This was the style a Contractor should have.

With a wave of his hand, all his contracted beasts jumped out, and only then did he leisurely cast the "Chain Lightning" Skill.