126: Chapter 126 Just Wait to Die!

"You came at just the right time."

Zhou Yun patted the dirt off his hands, stood up, and turned to face him with a calm tone, "I was just about to look for you."

The second half of Lei Lie's sentence got stuck in his throat: "...Look for me?"

"That's right." Zhou Yun raised his hand and patted a blade of grass off his shoulder armor, "In two days, it will be our decisive battle against Qing City."

Lei Lie subconsciously straightened his back.

"Under your guidance, the Professionals of Flower City have improved their strength rapidly," Zhou Yun looked into his eyes, his tone still gentle, but every word carried unquestionable weight, "I have seen it all."

Lei Lie's Adam's apple bobbed.

"This battle is Flower City's first large-scale campaign." Zhou Yun withdrew his hand from his shoulder and clasped it behind his back, his voice suddenly rising a pitch—

"Therefore, I order you. This decisive battle is not just to verify your training results, but more importantly, to demonstrate our might and show our Aura!"

He looked into Lei Lie's eyes, enunciating every word: "Not only must we win, but we must win beautifully!"

The wind blew across the fields, lifting Zhou Yun's robes and Lei Lie's battle cloak simultaneously.

Something in Lei Lie's chest exploded with a roar.

All his self-doubt, all feelings of inadequacy, and all thoughts of "stepping down to let a better person take over" were burned away completely by those few words at this moment.

He slammed one knee to the ground with a thud, his plate armor colliding with the stone floor with a dull sound. He looked up, his eyes red, his voice sounding as if it were being roared from the depths of his chest: "This subordinate obeys the order!!"

...

At night, Zhou Yun sat by the window of his study and habitually pulled out his phone.

He first glanced at the chat box with Zhou Tianhao.

The last message was still that bolded exclamation mark "Mind your own business!", with the timestamp stopped at two days ago.

There were no new messages.

His thumb hovered over the input box, but in the end, he slid it away.

When exiting the chat box, he noticed that the class group chat had piled up dozens of unread messages, and someone had tagged him.

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He frowned and clicked on it.

He scrolled up and quickly found the source—Wang Shuai had sent a long string of voice messages. He didn't tap to listen, but someone below had thoughtfully provided a text summary: Wang Shuai said that declaring war on Flower City was an impulsive decision because City Lord Zhang Hao had been eliminated. Now that his anger had subsided, he didn't want to cause classmates to turn against each other.

If Emperor Yun is willing to hand over the city lord seal, he will let bygones be bygones, and everyone will still be classmates.

The messages below were very lively.

"Well said! Wang Shuai is generous!"

"Exactly, exactly! Emperor Yun is the world's number one, and Wang Shuai is the class's number one. If these two big shots can turn hostility into friendship, it would be a blessing for our whole class!"

"We'll follow both big brothers from now on!"

"@Chu Xinran Xinran, say something. You have a good relationship with Emperor Yun, can you help persuade him?"

Chu Xinran did not reply.

The messages continued to scroll down.

"@Zhou Yun What does Emperor Yun think? Wang Shuai has already offered a way out; why not take it while you can?"

"Yeah, yeah, an F-Level City being able to survive the novice period is already impressive enough. There's no need to go head-to-head with an S-Level, right?"

"@Zhou Yun Brother, say something!"

...

Zhou Yun finished reading and turned off the screen with an expressionless face.

The phone rested on his knees, its pitch-black screen reflecting his blurry outline.

The wind from outside the window blew in, carrying the fresh fragrance of spirit rice seedlings from the fields.

In the distance, towards the direction of the Great Tree Settlement, sporadic lights were still shining. People were talking in the treehouses, and laughter could be heard faintly.

He lowered his head and looked at the phone for a while, then picked it up again.

He lit up the screen, opened the class group, and typed a few words into the input box with his thumb.

He looked at it for two seconds and hit send.

[Hand over the city lord seal, and you may be spared from death.]

The group chat was silent for about three seconds.

Then it exploded.

"What does that mean?"

"Brother Yun is going to hand over the city lord seal?"

"Wait... why does that sound not quite right?"

"Hand over the city lord seal and you may be spared from death—who is handing it over? Whose death is being spared?"

"No way... does this mean he's asking Wang Shuai to hand it over?"

"???"

"Holy crap"

"No, Emperor Yun, you are an F-Level City, and you're asking an S-Level City Lord to hand over his city lord seal???"

"This is just too..."

...

Zhou Yun did not send a second message. He locked the screen and was about to put down his phone when a private message popped up.

Chu Xinran. Only four words: [As expected of you.]

Zhou Yun looked at this message, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

He did not reply, but he didn't exit immediately either. He just looked at it for two seconds before switching back to the class group.

The discussion in the group was still continuing, but the opinions had clearly diverged—some felt Zhou Yun was bragging, some felt that the world's number one must have confidence to say such things, and others didn't dare offend either side and were trying to smooth things over.

Then Wang Shuai's message finally appeared.

First, a tag.

[@Zhou Yun]

He paused for a few seconds.

Then came a line of text: [Fine, fine, fine. I gave you a chance and you didn't take it. Wait for death!]

Zhou Yun stared at this line of text for a while, his expression unchanged.

He exited the class group, exited WeChat, turned off the screen, and placed the phone on the corner of the table.

He then stood up and walked to the window, resting his hands on the windowsill, looking at the scattered lights on the distant wasteland.

The wind carried the scent of soil and spirit rice seedlings.

After tomorrow, it will be the decisive battle.

...

Early morning. Before the sky was fully bright, the Great Tree Settlement began to stir.

Unlike usual, the citizens who woke up earliest today did not climb down from their treehouses to check the seedlings; instead, they hurriedly put on their clothes and walked in the same direction—the East City Gate.

Yesterday afternoon, a notice was posted at the entrance of the Military Department, with large characters written in a bold, sweeping style: Tomorrow at the hour of the Dragon, outside the East City Gate, 10,000 elites will be selected to participate in the decisive battle between the two cities.

Less than half an hour after the notice was posted, it was surrounded by three layers of people, and the news spread across the city faster than the ripples of the Sweet Dew Array.

At this moment, there were more and more figures on the small paths. At first, everyone was just walking normally, but gradually, their footsteps quickened.

No one was willing to admit that they were the one who accelerated first.

"Hey! I say, why are you walking so fast?"

"??? Wasn't it you who started walking fast first?"

"How did I walk fast? This is my normal walking speed!"

"Ha! Then so am I! Unconvinced? I can go even faster!"

"Like I can't?"

The two of them walked faster and faster, and later they even started using their Qi, with faint light of spiritual power appearing under their feet, as if they were race-walking, neither willing to fall half a step behind.

The people around them didn't say anything, but the sound of footsteps became denser.

By the time this group of people arrived breathless outside the East City Gate, they were all dumbfounded.