187: Chapter 188 Let Galewind City Withdraw

Message after message poured in.

Some were genuinely cursing on his behalf.

Some were following the trend to stir up trouble.

Some were just there to watch the chaos unfold.

Others were calmly trying to mediate.

It was a noisy, chaotic mess.

But City Lord Zhao Kun didn't talk back from start to finish.

He just kept tagging Zhou Yun over and over amidst all those voices.

"@ Zhou Yun, I beg you! Save me!"

"@ Zhou Yun, I really can't hold on anymore!"

...

Zhou Yun's fingertips moved slightly, scrolling up through the messages one by one.

As he scrolled, a new message popped up on the screen.

It was from City Lord Zhao Kun.

This one was longer than any before it.

He probably realized that if he didn't say something, there would be no hope left.

"Zhou Yun."

"I acknowledge everything I did to you before."

"I can kowtow to you."

"I can be your beast of burden."

"As long as you save me this time, my life will be yours from now on."

"I will do whatever you want me to do."

"I swear a poisonous oath to you—"

He paused for a breath.

The next message popped up.

"If I break my word."

"May I drop dead on the spot and die a horrible death!"

"May my younger brother die young!"

"May my parents die early!"

...

In the group, those who had been arguing suddenly went silent.

It was quiet for two full breaths.

Then—

Someone sent a message.

"Holy crap!"

Another breath.

"Swearing on his parents? That's ruthless!"

"I remember when someone insulted his dad once, he fought them until he was bleeding and ended up in the hospital."

"I remember that too."

"Looks like he's serious."

...

Zhou Yun stared at the screen, his eyes showing no fluctuation.

He didn't reply immediately.

He just read through City Lord Zhao Kun's poisonous oaths one by one again.

—

Just then, a small red dot popped up in the top right corner of the screen.

It wasn't the group.

It was a private message.

Zhou Yun's gaze paused.

He felt familiar with that name even through the screen.

Chu Xinran.

He tapped his fingertip lightly to open the private chat.

The other person sent only three words.

"Don't save him."

Zhou Yun stared at these three words for two breaths.

He replied.

"Why?"

The other side was silent for a few breaths.

Then, messages slowly popped up one by one.

"This guy is no good."

"He used to be Wang Shuai's lackey."

"After Wang Shuai's incident, I don't know if he hates you or not."

"But if there's even the slightest possibility, you can't take the gamble."

Silence for a breath.

Another message.

"You can't trust anyone in the class. Including me."

Zhou Yun stared at this line, his fingertip tapping lightly on the edge of the screen.

He replied.

"Why do you say that?"

The other side was silent for even longer than before.

So long that Zhou Yun thought she wouldn't reply again.

In the government hall, the wind blew through the window, landing on the stack of documents on the desk and flipping the corner of a page.

Wan'er stood quietly to the side, not asking anything.

She could tell that a certain part of Zhou Yun's heart was being pressed by an invisible hand at this moment.

—

On the screen, words slowly popped up.

"I am the best example."

Zhou Yun's fingers paused.

He stared at this line for a breath.

Then, Chu Xinran sent another message.

Even shorter.

"I said before I would go find you."

Another message.

"I didn't make it."

Another message.

"Because on the way to your side, I was ambushed."

Another message.

"The person who ambushed me was my best friend."

Zhou Yun's breathing hitched for an instant.

...

He stared at the screen, his fingers motionless.

After two breaths, he subconsciously raised his other hand and opened the class list.

A row of names scrolled down.

Some avatars were still lit up.

Some were already dark.

There were also a few that were grey.

Behind the names of those grey ones, there was a small, faint line of text.

"This user has logged out"

Zhou Yun scrolled down from top to bottom, one by one.

He actually already had an impression of Chu Xinran's best friend's name.

Back in high school, the two girls were almost inseparable, walking into the classroom together and leaving the school gate together.

He remembered that name very clearly.

He scrolled to that one.

The name was still there.

But the name was already grey.

Behind it followed that faint little line of text.

"This user has logged out."

Zhou Yun stared at that line for a breath.

His fingertips slowly tightened a little.

...

On the other side of the screen, Chu Xinran sent another message.

"My combat power was reduced by eighty percent in that battle."

"I still haven't recovered, just barely surviving."

"So I haven't been able to come over."

Finally, she sent three words.

"I'm sorry."

...

Zhou Yun stared at these three words, quiet for a long time.

He knew Chu Xinran.

She was not a person who would easily say "I'm sorry."

In her life, she was unwilling to owe anyone anything.

That she could send these three words today meant she had really taken her original sentence to Zhou Yun, "I'll come find you when the novice period ends," to heart— and had kept it there for a long time.

Zhou Yun lowered his eyes and replied with a line of text in the private chat.

His typing rhythm was slower than before.

"I understand."

"Take care."

Just those two lines.

He didn't say another word.

Then he closed the private chat and returned to the group.

The group was still chaotic.

City Lord Zhao Kun was still tagging him.

"@ Zhou Yun"

"@ Zhou Yun Brother Yun"

"@ Zhou Yun I beg you"

...

Zhou Yun typed slowly in the input box.

He typed very slowly.

One character, one character.

"City Lord Zhao Kun."

The group went silent instantly.

Those who were flooding the screen seemed to have been tapped on the back of the head, all of them shutting up at once.

A whole screen of messages stopped.

Everyone was waiting for his next sentence.

Zhou Yun typed the next sentence.

"Why do you think I can save you?"

City Lord Zhao Kun replied almost instantly.

"Because you sent a coordinate in the group once before."

"Just once!"

"But I wrote it down!"

"I am not far from you!"

"About a day's journey!"

"You were able to defeat City Lord Zhang Hao, and defeat Wang Shuai!"

"So with your strength, you must have a way!"

"Now I am being besieged by the army of a hostile city! I really can't hold on for much longer!"

"Brother Yun."

"I can die, but I really cannot fail!"

"I am the only hope for my family!"

...

Zhou Yun stared at that last sentence for two breaths.

His expression didn't change.

He typed another line in the input box.

"Give me your coordinates."

City Lord Zhao Kun sent three sets of coordinate data in a row.

Zhou Yun stared at those coordinates.

One breath.

Two breaths.

His eyes slowly turned cold.

Because he recognized the location of these coordinates.

The distribution of forces around these coordinates had been marked countless times by the Military Department of Flower City.

The city where City Lord Zhao Kun was located— was exactly within the attack range of Liefeng.

To confirm this, Zhou Yun typed another line in the group.

"Who is attacking you?"

City Lord Zhao Kun replied immediately.

"Liefeng."

If it were just City Lord Zhao Kun alone, he might not have acted immediately.

But since it involved Liefeng...

He put his phone down on the table, raised his head, and looked at Wan'er.

...

Wan'er had been standing to the side, not moving.

She didn't understand that little glowing square.

She also didn't understand those flickering words popping up on the screen.

But she could see Zhou Yun's expression.

From just now until now, it had changed twice.

The first time— was when he scrolled to a certain message, his brow furrowed very slightly.

The second time— was just now.

He looked down and stared at a line on the screen for two breaths, his eyes slowly darkening.

Then he raised his head and looked at her.

His tone was as steady as when he had been discussing matters just a moment ago.

"Wan'er."

"Yes."

"Summon Lei Lie."

"Have the outpost set off immediately."

"Have the army currently attacking Liefeng withdraw."

After hearing this, Wan'er didn't move immediately.

She just looked at Zhou Yun quietly for a breath.

Then she nodded gently.

"Yes."

She didn't ask which city it was.

Nor did she ask why it was so urgent.

She just turned around and walked out of the government hall.

Her steps were fast, yet steady.

...

The moment Wan'er left, Zhou Yun's gaze fell back to the phone screen.

He typed the last line of text in the group.

"Within one day, Liefeng will withdraw its troops."

—

On the other side of the screen, there was first a breath of dead silence.

Then, the whole group exploded.

"Holy crap?"

"Brother Yun?"

"One day?"

"You can save him just by saying so? That's strength!"

"Tsk tsk, looks like Kun Kun really found the right person!"

"Awesome, awesome!"

"Brother Yun is awesome"

"Brother Yun is really going to save City Lord Zhao Kun!"

"This is returning evil with kindness!"

"I am willing to call Brother Yun a Saint! Who agrees, who disagrees?"

The group exploded into a mess.

City Lord Zhao Kun sent a long string of characters that could barely form sentences—

"Brother Yun I was wrong I was wrong before I was really wrong Brother Yun you are my own brother you are my own brother I beg you Brother Yun I will really really definitely repay you definitely definitely"

Zhou Yun didn't reply again.

He gently put the phone back into his sleeve pocket.

The screen went dark.

From the time he touched this little square until now— less than ten minutes.

...

Zhou Yun looked up and glanced out the window.

Outside, the sunlight was still nice.

The branches and leaves of the Heaven-Reaching Jianmu in the distance swayed gently in the wind.

This morning in Flower City looked no different from any other morning.

He suddenly remembered the words his father had said that day.

"Don't be distracted by affairs over there."

Zhou Yun smiled.

The smile was very faint.

He wasn't smiling at those words.

He was smiling at himself.

He wasn't distracted.

He had just used ten minutes to casually pull a punk who had once constantly ridiculed him from under a falling blade.

He hadn't even left his desk.

—

Just then, in his sleeve pocket, the phone "buzzed" very lightly again.

Zhou Yun took it out.

The screen lit up.

It was a private message.

From Chu Xinran.

No other words.

Just one— a sighing emoji.

It lay there all alone.

Zhou Yun stared at that expression for two breaths.

Very lightly, very softly, he smiled.

He didn't reply.

He put the phone back into his sleeve pocket.

The screen went dark for the second time.

In the government hall, the wind was still not strong.

The stack of documents on the desk was opened to the third page, the corner fluttering slightly in the wind.

Zhou Yun lowered his eyes and continued to flip through them.

His movements were almost indistinguishable from ten minutes ago.

It was as if everything that had just happened had never occurred.

...

On the other side.

As soon as Wan'er left the government hall, her pace quickened.

She walked all the way towards the Military Department, not greeting anyone she met on the way.

Her mind kept replaying that scene just now.

That little square in Zhou Yun's hand.

Those words constantly popping up on the screen.

The instant Zhou Yun's brow furrowed very slightly.

And when he finally looked up at her, that sentence said as calmly as "It's raining today"—

"Have Liefeng withdraw."

As Wan'er walked, her pace slowed by half a beat.

She suddenly realized something.

That little square was a thing from another world.

The person in the group tagging Zhou Yun was a person from another world.

The message that made Zhou Yun's brow furrow also came from another world.

But Wan'er had never seen any of it.

Not only had she not seen it.

Strategist Zhu Ge hadn't seen it.

Minister Wang Fugui hadn't seen it.

In the entire Flower City, besides the City Lord himself, it seemed only Lei Lie had seen it.

They, these people standing on this side of the door, could help him do many things—

but once the door closed, the wind and rain, grievances, and old debts on the other side of the door could almost only be carried by Zhou Yun himself.

In Wan'er's heart, a feeling she couldn't describe suddenly surged up.

It wasn't fear.

Nor was it sadness.

It was a kind of...

It was the first time she realized the suffocating feeling that there was actually no one standing behind Zhou Yun.

He had blocked too much for Flower City.

But no one could block the wind from that door behind him for him.

Thinking this, her steps quickened a few more times.

The city wall of the small city wasn't built very high.

Loess was piled up layer by layer, and after many years of wind and sun, the wall surface had turned somewhat white.

On the city wall, there weren't many soldiers to begin with.

At this moment, those few soldiers were all huddled behind the parapet, their eyes fixed on the foot of the wall.

Below the wall was a thick cloud of dust.

In the dust were soldiers.

In the soldiers were weapons.

On the weapons was cold light.

Liefeng's army formation had already pressed to within less than fifty paces of the city wall.

The battering ram was set up.

The scaling ladders were halfway up.

City Lord Zhao Kun, wearing a piece of soft armor that didn't fit very well, stood at the very front of the city wall, his hands gripping a sword tightly.

His sword hadn't been unsheathed yet.

Because he didn't know where to swing it after unsheathing.

He only knew that in half an hour...

No, perhaps it wouldn't take half an hour, and this city would be gone.

If this city was gone, he would be gone too.

The most valuable thing in his life, the thing that could make his family hold their heads high, would be gone.

Once the status of City Lord was lost, even if he was lucky enough to survive, he could only slink back to Blue Star.

From then on, the door in this City Lord World would never open for him again.

The bit of dignity his parents had saved up all their lives on Blue Star, and whether his younger brother could be looked up to in the future, all rested on him, the "only City Lord in the family."

Once he thought of this, his hands started to shake again.

A lieutenant beside him tugged at his sleeve, his voice hoarse.

"City Lord..."

"City Lord, you... please say something..."

"What... what should we do?"

He didn't answer.

Because he didn't dare to answer.

He had never fought a real battle in his life.

...

City Lord Zhao Kun stood on the city wall.

His hands were shaking so much that he could barely hold his sword.

But in his mind, only one thing kept repeating.

It was the plea for help he had sent out half an hour ago.

He had typed [ @ Zhou Yun ] dozens of times in the class group.

But he himself didn't believe Zhou Yun would save him.

After all, he wasn't close to Zhou Yun.

...