108: Chapter 108 Please give the order to send troops!

Old Man Gen raised his head, his cloudy eyes staring at Zhou Yun for several seconds.

His lips were trembling; he wanted to say something, but couldn't get it out.

Zhou Yun did not wait for him to agree or refuse.

He tucked the brick under one arm, reached out with his other hand, and steadily supported the old man's arm.

"Let's go, I'll help you over."

Old Man Gen was supported by him as they walked toward the center of the city tower.

His steps were unsteady, and he almost tripped over himself several times, but Zhou Yun's hand remained on his arm, firm and steady.

The people on the city wall automatically cleared a path.

Tieshan stood beside the gap, and seeing Zhou Yun supporting Old Man Gen as they approached, he first opened his mouth, then said nothing, silently stepping back.

Zhou Yun handed the brick to Old Man Gen.

The old man's hands were trembling.

When he took the brick, his knuckles were turning white.

"Just place it on top," Zhou Yun said softly, "just like you do on the construction site."

Old Man Gen held the brick, bent down, and slowly moved it toward the gap.

His hands were trembling too violently.

Even though it was an action he had performed thousands of times, under the gaze of over a hundred thousand pairs of eyes, this half-arm-length brick felt as heavy as a mountain.

His mind was blank, and he released his hand purely out of stiff instinct.

"Click."

The moment the brick fell, everyone around saw it—it was crooked.

Higher on the left, lower on the right.

It wasn't severe, but among the perfectly fitted bricks and stones around it, the crookedness of this one was particularly obvious.

Tieshan leaned forward, his mouth opening, but he forcefully held back and didn't make a sound.

Lei Lie frowned.

Wan'er's gaze shifted from the brick to Zhou Yun's face.

Old Man Gen saw it too.

His face flushed red instantly, and his hands hurriedly reached out to take the brick back out and place it again— "It's crooked, it's crooked, I'll redo it..."

Zhou Yun's hand gently pressed onto the back of his hand.

The old man's movements stopped.

"Old Man Gen."

Zhou Yun's voice was very soft, his tone the same as before, even carrying a smile.

"This last brick, you laid it perfectly."

Old Man Gen froze there, lowering his head to look at the crooked brick, looking at the hand pressing on the back of his own.

His shoulders began to tremble, not because of nervousness, but because something was surging up from his chest that he couldn't suppress.

He covered his face with his other hand.

Zhou Yun gently patted his shoulder, then turned to face below the city wall.

The wind on the city tower was strong.

Below were dense crowds of people, so quiet that only the sound of the wind could be heard. Everyone had seen everything that just happened—a most ordinary old man trembling as he placed the last brick, the brick was crooked, and the City Lord had held his hand.

Zhou Yun's voice was not loud, but it carried very far.

"I declare, the new city is completed at this moment!!"

After a brief, deathly silence, a wave of sound erupted from below the city wall that seemed to flip the sky.

Without any prior rehearsal, over a hundred thousand people cried without restraint amidst the earth-shaking shouts of "Long live!"

In this boiling wave of sound, Tieshan wiped his face fiercely with his rough sleeve.

Wan'er closed the record book and held it tightly to her chest.

Strategist Zhu Ge, sitting in his wheelchair, closed his eyes, the curve at the corner of his mouth extremely faint but impossible to suppress any longer, while Lei Lie, amidst the most high-pitched cheers, lowered his head and bowed deeply with cupped fists in the direction of Zhou Yun.

This city was simple and crude; even the streets were dirt roads.

But every brick of it, even that last crooked one on the city tower, had been placed there by someone standing with their spine straight.

...That afternoon.

The joy of the new city's completion had not yet completely faded, but the air in the Council Hall was already permeated with a murderous and excited Battle Intent.

Lei Lie stood at the very front of the long table, the Bronze Rank Flowing Cloud Plate Armor on his body emitting a dull clanging sound with his movements.

He stepped forward, dropping onto one knee with a heavy thud, his knuckles turning white from the force of his cupped fists.

"City Lord, please order the troops to set out!" Lei Lie's voice was like a heavy sword unsheathed, carrying an irrepressible sharpness.

"Green City is merely an S-Rank city; at most, it has about a thousand Black Iron Rank Professionals."

"And our Flower City now has over fifty thousand people who have completed their job transfers alone!"

"As long as you give me ten thousand elites, this general guarantees to flatten Green City within two days and absolutely keep casualties within one hundred!"

He raised his head, looking at Zhou Yun in the main seat with burning eyes: "Benevolence and righteousness are important, but in the face of such a unilateral declaration of war from Green City, benevolence and righteousness cannot solve the problem. Others have already put knives to our necks; we must fight back! City Lord!"

Strategist Zhu Ge, sitting on the left side of the long table, did not refute Lei Lie.

His slender fingers gently rubbed the armrest of his wheelchair, and he added the underlying logical rules extremely calmly:

"City Lord, the Heavenly Dao's declaration of war rules are there; if no battle of a certain scale occurs within ten days, the Heavenly Dao will forcibly open a battlefield, and both sides must each field ten thousand people to fight to the death."

"Today is the ninth day; at most, there are only five or six days left."

"Instead of being passively dragged into an unknown battlefield by the Heavenly Dao, it is better for us to take the initiative and place the battlefield under the walls of Green City."

"Logistics is absolutely no problem!" Minister Wang Fugui stood up abruptly, waving his chubby fists, the fat on his face wobbling along.

"The Silver Rank Spiritual Qi rice and Gold Rank Red Flame Golden-Maned Pig meat in our Granary are piled up like mountains. Forget about fighting for two days; even if we fight for two months, I can ensure the brothers on the front lines eat hot meat soup every single meal!"

Tieshan also patted his chest heavily and chimed in with a loud voice:

"I'm a rough man and don't understand how to arrange troops, but I just can't swallow this anger! Why should Wang Shuai say we fight and we fight?"

"City Lord, give the order, and I'll go to the armory and push out the best battering ram right now!"

Listening to the boiling Battle Intent of everyone, Wan'er opened the record book in her hand, her voice crisp and rational:

"City Lord, the public sentiment in the city is ready to be used. The two hundred thousand citizens are all holding back energy, wanting to share your burdens. If we forcibly suppress this Battle Intent, I fear it will be counterproductive. Moreover..."

She paused, her gaze sweeping across the room, and threw out an ultimate temptation that made everyone's breathing grow a few shades heavier:

"Sieging cities and seizing territory is the only way to advance to a 'Lower-Level City'."

"As long as we gather twenty subsidiary cities, the main city will advance, and not only will the lifespan of the citizens greatly increase and the Aptitude of the next generation improve, but the concentration of Spiritual Qi within the sphere of influence will also greatly increase!"

Once these words were spoken, the temperature in the Council Hall seemed to rise a few degrees.

Everyone was staring with eager eyes at the young man in the main seat, waiting for his expected "permission to fight."

However, Zhou Yun was not in a hurry to state his position.

He sat there quietly, holding a cup of tea in his hand that was no longer steaming.