188: Chapter 189 Did they really withdraw?

No, it actually wasn't that they weren't close.

More accurately, it was that they didn't have a good relationship.

In high school, he had often joined Wang Shuai in mocking Zhou Yun.

He had laughed behind his back.

He had confronted him to his face.

He had treated Zhou Yun as just an ordinary, invisible person that "Wang Shuai couldn't even be bothered to deal with."

He had never taken Zhou Yun seriously.

It wasn't until he was truly near death that he suddenly realized—in his class group chat, the person he had mocked countless times was the only one who could possibly save him.

And that person... he had ruined all connection with him himself.

He held his phone on the city wall, his hands shaking so hard he couldn't open the screen.

When he sent that poisonous oath, he hadn't expected anything in return.

He just—had no other choice.

His parents weren't in this city.

His younger brother wasn't here either.

They were all on the Blue Star, in a world that was temporarily safe, but one that would never give him a second chance.

But because they weren't here, City Lord Zhao Kun was even more afraid.

He was afraid that once he was eliminated, he would never be able to hold his head up again after returning.

He was afraid that when his parents mentioned him to others, their pride would turn into sighs.

He was afraid that his younger brother would be pointed at in the future and asked— "Isn't your brother a City Lord? Why did he come back so shamefully?"

City Lord Zhao Kun stared at the mentions on his phone screen, his lips trembling.

Just a moment ago, a message had actually lit up on the screen.

[The Gale Wind City will withdraw its troops within one day.]

At that moment, City Lord Zhao Kun practically scrambled up from the ground.

He held up his phone, facing the pale-faced soldiers on the city wall, his voice shaking uncontrollably, yet he still forced himself to shout.

"Hold on!"

"Just hold on for one day!"

"Within one day, reinforcements will arrive!"

"We can survive!"

When those words were shouted, few on the city wall actually believed them.

But when people are near death, they will subconsciously reach out to grab even a soaked straw.

So the few people who were about to scatter gritted their teeth and lifted the rolling logs again.

Someone cried while moving stones to the gaps in the city wall.

Someone, even though their arms were shaking, pulled back their bowstring again.

City Lord Zhao Kun held on with them.

He told himself over and over, one day.

Just hold on for one day.

But the Gale Wind City army under the city was attacking too fiercely.

Every time the battering ram struck, the small spark of hope in his heart was extinguished a little more.

Forget one day.

At this rate, they might not even last an hour.

Below the city, the battering ram struck the wall again.

"Boom—!"

The entire city wall shook.

City Lord Zhao Kun was almost shaken into sitting down.

His phone clattered onto the bricks.

He scrambled to pick it up.

Just as he reached for his phone—Below the city, suddenly—It stopped.

...

City Lord Zhao Kun froze.

He looked up.

The Gale Wind City army, which had been slamming the battering ram against the wall, stopped.

The battering ram was held in mid-air, not falling.

The soldiers on the scaling ladders stopped, not climbing any further.

The entire army, as if someone had pressed a pause button, stood still in place.

City Lord Zhao Kun thought he was hallucinating.

He even wanted to slap himself.

But just then—

"Boom—!"

"Boom—!"

"Boom—!"

A series of extremely deep drum sounds rang out, one after another, from the very back of the Gale Wind City army.

The rhythm was steady.

The rhythm was also familiar.

That was—The retreat drum.

...

City Lord Zhao Kun stood frozen.

He thought he had misheard.

The lieutenant beside him also froze.

The lieutenant's mouth opened and closed, his voice hoarse as if sanded down by sandpaper.

"City, City Lord..."

"They... what are they doing?"

City Lord Zhao Kun didn't answer.

He just stared fixedly below the city.

"Boom—!"

"Boom—!"

"Boom—!"

The drums were still sounding.

The Gale Wind City army began to retreat slowly and reluctantly.

The battering ram was dragged away from the city wall bit by bit.

The soldiers on the scaling ladders began to climb down, each of their faces written with confusion.

One soldier, halfway down, looked up and shouted to the person beside him—

"Retreat?!"

"Why retreat?!"

"I was almost at the top of the wall, damn it!"

No one answered him.

The drums were sounding.

"Boom—!"

"Boom—!"

"Boom—!"

The entire army, in a state of confusion and bewilderment, slowly retreated.

City Lord Zhao Kun's sword, which hadn't even been unsheathed, hit the ground with a "clatter."

He didn't notice.

He just stared below the city.

Staring at those soldiers who were supposed to flatten him, one by one, turning around and walking in the direction they came from.

He stared and stared, his eyes heating up.

The edges of his eye sockets instantly became wet.

His legs went soft.

His whole body—Kneeling on the city wall.

...

The lieutenant beside him didn't understand what had happened either.

He saw City Lord Zhao Kun kneel down, and subconsciously followed suit.

Then he looked up at City Lord Zhao Kun—

"City, City Lord..."

"We... are we saved?"

"We survived?!"

City Lord Zhao Kun didn't answer.

He couldn't hear these words at all.

His hands were shaking.

He reached out and grabbed the phone that had fallen onto the bricks.

His fingers were shaking too much to unlock the screen.

He tapped once.

It missed.

He tapped again.

It missed again.

It wasn't until the third time that he managed to light up the screen.

The class group chat icon was still there, the 99+ number glaringly red.

With trembling fingers, he opened the group.

In the group, they were debating whether the statement "Gale Wind City will withdraw its troops within one day" was bragging.

[Brother Yun, are you joking?]

[One day? A day isn't enough, right?]

[Even if there is time, why would they listen to you?]

[I think City Lord Zhao Kun is going to be finished there today.]

[Brother Yun hasn't replied, I guess he thinks there's no chance either.]

...

City Lord Zhao Kun stared at this screen full of messages, and tears streamed down.

He typed with trembling fingers.

He typed too hastily; the first time he didn't even get the Pinyin right.

Delete.

Try again.

Typing character by character.

[Brother Zhou Yun!!]

[Gale Wind City!!]

[Gale Wind City has retreated!!!]

[It's true!!!]

[I saw it with my own eyes!!!]

[Their battering ram has stopped!!]

[The drums sounded!!]

[They are retreating!]

[They really retreated!!!]

He posted this long message, but still wasn't at ease.

He looked up at the city below—The Gale Wind City army was still retreating.

It was as if—he had gone back on his word.

He hurriedly lifted his phone again, aimed it at the retreating army below, and snapped a photo.

The photo was very blurry.

A long shot, gray and hazy, where you could barely see a bunch of soldiers retreating in the dust.

He didn't care if the photo was blurry or not.

He "whooshed" it into the group.

...

The group exploded instantly.

[Holy crap?!]

[Really retreated?!]

[Damn!!]

[The picture is blurry as hell, but... it looks like they really are retreating?!]

[No way, no way]

[Brother Yun?]

[Brother Yun!!]

[Brother Yun, you really did it?!]

[One day?!]

[Wait, from the time Brother Yun said that until now, has it even been half a day?]

[No! Definitely not! I checked the watch! Seven hours at most!]

[Seven hours, that far, making an enemy city's army retreat?!]

[Is this something a human can do?!]

[Brother Yun is the GOAT!!!]

[Too strong!!]

Messages flew by one by one.

City Lord Zhao Kun wept while staring at the screen, scrolling down.

He was already kneeling on the ground.

But as he watched—Suddenly he saw a message.

That message wasn't from someone cheering or spamming.

It was the person from the group before who had calmly added people, and when everyone was shouting "can't save him," said "We won't make the decision for you."

That person, this time, only sent one message.

Very light.

Very short.

[City Lord Zhao Kun.]

[Your status as City Lord is preserved.]

...

City Lord Zhao Kun stared at this line of text.

In his mind, there was a "buzz."

The poisonous oath he had sent earlier immediately surfaced from the depths of his memory.

He had said: If he went back on his word, let his parents die early, let his younger brother die early, let himself drop dead on the spot, and have a miserable death.

At that time, he was truly swearing it.

The things he couldn't use to swear in this life were his parents and his younger brother.

When he made that oath, there was a thought weighing on his heart—Anyway, I'm finished.

Anyway, once the city was broken, he would no longer be a City Lord.

Anyway, at that time, his parents' lifelong reputation, and the hope that his younger brother could hold his head high because of him, would all be gone.

He took out the things he couldn't touch to swear, not because he was really willing to.

It was because he truly had no other path.

But at that time he was just gambling.

He won the gamble.

His status as City Lord was preserved.

The hope his parents had pinned on him was preserved.

His own life was also preserved.

...

City Lord Zhao Kun knelt on the city wall, gripping his phone, his whole body shaking like chaff.

Tears fell onto the screen one by one.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

But only a sob squeezed out of his throat.

It wasn't just crying for himself.

It wasn't just crying for Zhou Yun.

It was crying for that door he had almost completely lost.

It was crying for the face his parents had carefully maintained in front of relatives and neighbors all these years.

It was crying for the words he used to gamble; they were truly so heavy that they made people breathless.

But today, that door was really pulled back from under the blade.

It wasn't pulled out by himself.

It was pulled out by a classmate he had never treated seriously, just in passing.

As for the degree of "in passing"...

The other party didn't even say a word.

Didn't even reply to a single message in the group.

Even throughout the whole thing, they didn't even show their face!

It took less than half a day.

City Lord Zhao Kun's head immediately knocked onto the city bricks.

He wasn't knocking on the city bricks.

He was kowtowing in a certain direction.

That was the direction of Flower City.

He knew that from this day on, he owed Zhou Yun a life.

Zhou Yun saved him, which meant saving his future, which meant saving his whole family!

This debt, he had to repay with his life!

...

The wind on the city wall blew past him.

The Gale Wind City army under the city was still retreating into the distance.

City Lord Zhao Kun looked up, his face full of tears.

He said a sentence to the phone screen, with a hoarse voice, that no one could hear.

"Brother Yun..."

"Thank you."

...

...

Far away on the other side.

The Gale Wind City army had already retreated out of siege range.

Gale Wind City Lord rode on his horse, his face livid.

He only reined in his horse after retreating for more than ten miles.

The lieutenant followed cautiously behind him.

That half of his face was still swollen.

After being pulled out of the command tent, the lieutenant hadn't dared to say another word.

He wasn't afraid to ask.

He was afraid to believe.

Gale Wind City Lord had actually, because of a letter, handed over a city that was within his grasp within half an hour!

...

When dusk fell, the tents were set up again.

Gale Wind City Lord sat alone in the tent.

The candlelight was half bright and half dark.

On the table, that letter was still folded, placed in front of him.

He had already read it three times.

Every time he read it, his back felt colder.

He was originally a very stable person.

He didn't rely on luck to reach the position of a City Lord.

He had his own calculations, his own intelligence network, his own channels.

He had come personally to attack this small city this time because his calculations told him that this city was easy to hit.

This city had resources!

This city had no reinforcements around.

After taking it down, the hole in his Granary, which had been emptied by his massive purchases during this period, could be filled by more than half.

This was the only way to survive he could think of in these few months.

So he had come out suppressing the morale of the army.

So he had come out hiding it from the other three families.

So he was someone who didn't even dare to let extra people know about his plan.

But just when his battering ram had just hit the city wall...

The letter from Flower City had already been delivered outside his tent.

...

Gale Wind City Lord stared at the letter on the table.

It wasn't the first time he had realized how terrifying Flower City was.

He only realized for the first time today just how terrifying Flower City was.

He only knew who the City Lord of this small city was just before setting out.

He hadn't checked at all whether this city had any connection with Zhou Yun.

Because in his intelligence network, this was just an ordinary small city.

A small city with an ordinary City Lord.

It had nothing to do with Flower City.

But Flower City had sent the letter over just when he was about to conquer the city!

He had clearly done it very discreetly!

Logically speaking, it was impossible for other cities to discover it!

But coincidentally, Flower City knew, and at the last critical moment, delivered the letter to his hands!

Not too early, not too late, it was stuck at the most critical moment!

This... what did it represent?

Could it be... that Flower City had already laid its eyes on every single person, every single action, and every single thought of The Four Cities?

Were their every move all in the eyes of Flower City?

He looked up, staring at a crossbeam on the ceiling of the tent.

He stared for a long time.

When exactly did Flower City start laying this net?

How many lines did Flower City put in this net?

Beneath Flower City's net, how many lines were still being pressed that they didn't know about at all?

The more he thought, the colder his back became.

Finally, he stood up and walked to the stone platform in the corner of the tent.

On the stone platform, a Sound Transmission Array was embedded.

He reached out and pressed on it.

The array glowed.

...

The Sound Transmission Array he opened tonight was not the old line of the five cities from before.

Nor was it the one with Heyang.

It was the three families.

Qinghe.

Nanchang.

Maple Leaf.

He didn't explain to the other three families why.

He just knew...

Since the last discussion of The Four Cities, he had felt vaguely in his heart that Heyang was not of one mind with them.

That City Lord Qin Fang of Heyang had been too quiet lately.

Quiet to the point of being abnormal.

The words he was going to say today involved the ugliness of his Granary, involved the intelligence of Flower City, and involved blood-letting topics like "speeding up progress."

Such words, he would not speak in front of someone he could not trust.