35: Chapter 35 I am Zhu Ge

"Are there refugees again?"

Hearing the report from the City Guards, Zhou Yun furrowed his brows slightly, a trace of confusion flashing in his eyes.

"This isn't right," he muttered to himself.

According to the "City Lord Survival Code" repeatedly emphasized by teachers at school, although the novice protection period lasts seven days, the frequency of refugee arrivals is usually one wave every two days.

A massive wave of thirty thousand people arrived just yesterday; how could the next wave already be here before today is even over?

Isn't this frequency a bit too high?

However, despite his confusion, his face did not show any annoyance.

To other city lords, refugees are trouble and a burden.

But to him, the more, the better.

"Let's go take a look."

...

East City Gate.

When Zhou Yun climbed the ramparts of the East City Gate, the scene that met his eyes made his pupils shrink involuntarily.

Below the city wall, on that expanse of cold, snowy ground, a dense crowd of people had appeared at some unknown time.

They were not making any noise or commotion, nor were they pushing or shoving.

They...

Were actually all kneeling neatly in the snow!

Although the snow had stopped, the snow on the ground was deep, and the cold was biting.

Several thousand ragged refugees knelt there, motionless, like a group of silent sculptures.

Zhou Yun looked down from above, his gaze sweeping sharply over the crowd.

He keenly noticed that although these refugees were sallow and thin, their faces frozen blue, there was no numbness or listlessness in their eyes.

Besides that, many people had crude cloth strips wrapped around their bodies, with dark red blood seeping from beneath the cloth, clearly indicating they had just experienced a tragic battle not long ago.

"Lei Lie, what is going on here?"

Zhou Yun turned to look at Lei Lie beside him and asked in a low voice, "Why are they kneeling?"

Lei Lie gave a bitter smile and shook his head:

"Reporting to City Lord, this subordinate does not know either."

"When this subordinate just brought people over, this group was already kneeling here, only saying they wished to be permitted to enter the city."

A trace of surprise flashed in Zhou Yun's eyes again.

The current East City Gate was only simply blocked by loose stones and wooden boards.

The intact city gate yesterday couldn't stop the refugees, let alone some loose stones and boards now.

If this group wanted to force their way in, they could have easily broken through before Lei Lie and his men arrived.

Yet they did not do so; instead, they all knelt outside the city, requesting permission?

This point alone made Zhou Yun feel favorably toward them.

They clearly had the force, yet they did not use it.

They were clearly starving and freezing, yet they strictly followed the rules.

How could these be refugees?

Even an ordinary army would be no better than this.

"Since they want to enter the city, why not just let them in?" Zhou Yun asked.

"This subordinate followed your instructions and told them that anyone willing to work can enter the city, but..." Lei Lie smiled bitterly: "But their leader insists on seeing you in person."

"See me?" Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow: "Where is he?"

Lei Lie pointed to the position at the very front below the city wall: "There, that's him."

Zhou Yun looked in the direction of Lei Lie's finger.

He saw a crude... wheelchair parked at the very front of the kneeling crowd.

Sitting in the wheelchair was a young man who, despite wearing plain cloth clothes, could not hide an air of refined nobility.

He looked to be in his early twenties, dressed in white, with a pale complexion and a thin figure, coughing lightly from time to time, looking so weak that he seemed as if a gust of wind could blow him over.

But strangely, such a person was at the very front of the refugees?

Zhou Yun nodded inwardly, a strong intuition surging in his heart.

This person was definitely not ordinary.

He stepped forward and shouted down to the city: "I am the City Lord of this city, Zhou Yun!"

Upon hearing this, the young man below the city brightened, cupped his hands in a salute, and said: "In the presence of the City Lord, please forgive me for having a leg ailment and being unable to perform a full salute."

"I am Strategist Zhu Ge, a native of Liu City."

"The reason I insisted on seeing the City Lord is because this commoner... has an uninvited request."

Watching this young man who called himself "Strategist Zhu Ge," speaking with propriety and courtesy, Zhou Yun felt a few more points of approval in his heart.

He nodded, "Speak freely."

Strategist Zhu Ge said slowly: "I already know of the City Lord's benevolence. As long as one is willing to work, they are permitted to enter the city, given food to eat, and given a house to live in."

"This point alone makes me admire you endlessly."

"In normal times, I would love to immediately bring everyone into the city to have a full meal and a good night's sleep."

"But our luck on the journey here was truly poor. From Liu City to Flower City, over this seven-hundred-plus-mile road, we encountered attacks from Demonic Beast groups six times."

"Six times?" Lei Lie's brows jumped on the city wall.

Refugees are inherently weak, and what they fear most in the wild are Demonic Beasts.

Encountering them once is a brush with death; how could this group encounter them six times and still survive to walk from Liu City to here?

Strategist Zhu Ge's words continued:

"When we set out, there were 20,561 refugees in total."

"After six battles, a total of 7,598 people were injured."

"Among them, 6,542 were lightly injured."

"1,056 were seriously injured. And among these seriously injured, 251 people... have either lost a hand or a foot, basically losing their ability to work."

Speaking to this point, he raised his head, looking earnestly at Zhou Yun,

"According to the City Lord's regulations, these 251 people are obviously not within the scope of those permitted to enter the city."

"But I dare to be bold! I implore the City Lord to show mercy and permit them to enter the city as well!"

After finishing, he bowed his head deeply toward Zhou Yun.

However, before Zhou Yun could speak, Lei Lie suddenly stepped forward, "Wait!"

He narrowed his eyes, staring at Strategist Zhu Ge below the city, and demanded:

"You just said that on the road from Liu City to here, you encountered Demonic Beast group attacks six times?"

"Exactly!" Strategist Zhu Ge confirmed.

"You are lying!" Lei Lie suddenly roared: "You are a group of unarmed refugees! Not a regular army!"

"With your setup, even if you only encountered one Demonic Beast group, you would be scattered to the winds!"

"And you actually say six times? You not only survived these six times, but the casualties were less than half? And there wasn't even a single death?"

Facing Lei Lie's aggressive tone, Strategist Zhu Ge was not Life Qi, nor was he flustered; instead, he revealed deep... shame.

"This general's reprimand is correct." Strategist Zhu Ge sighed, his tone full of self-reproach,

"The casualties were indeed too tragic."

"It is all my incompetence."

"Because everyone had not participated in formal military training beforehand, nor did they have handy weapons, and their coordination was even more rusty."

"Otherwise..."

"If I could be given half a month to train them slightly, the injured could have been controlled to under 2,000. As for the seriously injured and disabled, it would definitely not exceed one hundred."

After Strategist Zhu Ge finished speaking, the air suddenly went quiet for a few seconds.

Lei Lie opened his mouth and laughed.

He was laughed into anger.

What had he heard?

Two thousand refugees fighting six Demonic Beast tides, with over seven thousand casualties, and this person actually still feels "shame"?

And still thinks it is his own "incompetence"?

And even dares to brazenly say that with just half a month of training, he could control casualties to one-tenth?

He had seen people who could brag!

But someone who could brag this much, he was seeing for the first time!

"Ha! Hahaha!" Lei Lie laughed loudly, his hand pointing at Strategist Zhu Ge shaking: "Give you an inch and you take a mile!"

"Do you know what you are talking about? Those are Demonic Beasts! Not livestock!"

"You bunch of ordinary people, encountering a Demonic Beast group, let alone fighting, you would be scared to death, and you talk about coordination? And controlling the injured to under 2,000?"

"Absurd! Ridiculous!"

Facing Lei Lie's mockery, Strategist Zhu Ge did not argue, just shook his head slightly, and once again cast his gaze toward Zhou Yun,

"City Lord."

"Please permit us all to enter the city! Including those two hundred-plus disabled brothers!"

"We do not ask for the City Lord to support them for nothing."

"For these people who lost their ability to work after being seriously injured, their share of work will naturally be done by their relatives and friends! Even if each of us eats less, even if each of us works an extra hour, we will absolutely not drag down others in the city!"

"We only ask... for a place to shelter from the wind and rain, do not leave them in the snow to wait for death."

After he finished, behind Strategist Zhu Ge, the refugees kneeling in the snow kowtowed in unison and shouted:

"We beg the City Lord to show mercy!!"

Seeing this scene, Zhou Yun could not bear it and immediately wanted to agree.

But Lei Lie once again got ahead of Zhou Yun, "City Lord! Wait!"

"This matter... is strange!"

He stared at the young man in white sitting in the wheelchair below the city, and scanned the rows of neatly kneeling wounded soldiers, his eyes flashing with sharp light,

"City Lord, don't you think it's too suspicious?"

"Originally, we were willing to let those capable of working enter the city and give them a bite to eat; that was already a huge favor. If it were other refugees, they would have long been grateful and abandoned the burdens to come in."

"But them? They insist on everyone entering the city!"

"This is not just greed, it looks more like... maintaining their organization!"

"Moreover, that person named Strategist Zhu Ge is talking nonsense and bragging! What about surviving six beast tides? What about being invincible after half a month of training? It's simply nonsense and completely unbelievable!"

"Most importantly..."

"Look at their formation! Obeying orders and prohibitions, even when kneeling they have an aura of killing intent! How are these refugees? This is clearly the style of an army!"

"City Lord, this subordinate suspects that this is very likely a unit sent by some city, disguised as refugees to mix in, wanting to take over the nest!"

Lei Lie's words were like a basin of cold water, instantly extinguishing the somewhat moving atmosphere around them.

Zhou Yun's gaze tightened slightly.

Lei Lie's reminder was not without reason.

In this City Lord World where resources are scarce and the strong prey on the weak, this situation is not impossible; it is even the norm.

Some cities, when resources are insufficient or development hits a Bottleneck, will indeed send troops to raid other weak cities.

Robbing is, of course, the fastest way to obtain resources.

But attacking a city is obviously not feasible.

Siege warfare causes huge losses and is time-consuming and laborious.

In comparison, tricking a city is much simpler.

As long as one can disguise as refugees and use the other party's sympathy to gain trust, once they enter the city, it's like Sun Wukong entering the belly of Princess Iron Fan.

Next, take them by surprise, light fires in the middle of the night, coordinate from inside and outside...

An F-rank small city would change hands in an instant!

And... the timing of this wave of refugees is really not normal.

It is highly likely that a classmate whose city is nearby "sent" them to him.

If it were someone else, it would be fine.

But if it were those specific few, they would inevitably add something for him.

Such a thought only flashed through Zhou Yun's mind, and he immediately ordered:

"Captain Lei."

"Let them enter the city."

Lei Lie was suddenly anxious, "City Lord..."

"Let them enter the city." Zhou Yun repeated.

"Sigh..." Watching Zhou Yun's unquestionable back, Lei Lie sighed heavily.

His own City Lord is good at everything, it's just this heart... is too soft!

Knowing that this group of people is of unknown origin, he still wants to let them enter the city.

If something really happens, what should be done?

But since Zhou Yun had spoken, he could only follow orders and immediately ordered:

"Go! Move all the stones and wooden boards blocking the gate for me!"

After speaking, he took a team of people down the city tower and began to clear the defensive works that had just been piled up last night.

"Boom... Clatter..."

As the heavy stones were moved away, the riddled East City Gate slowly opened to the refugees.

The refugees finally could not hold back the excitement in their hearts and began to whisper:

"It opened! It really opened!"

"The City Lord agreed! He really let us in!"

"Great! This is really great!"

...

Many people wept with joy because of this.

Strategist Zhu Ge, who was at the very front of the refugees, had a thin layer of mist well up in his eyes, which had always been as calm as water.

He bet correctly.

He brought these twenty thousand people, and along the way, almost no city was willing to take them in.

Even if there were, they were only willing to pick some young and strong ones.

Only here.

Only this Zhou Yun.

He didn't look at their background, didn't look at their value, and didn't even look at whether they were burdens.

With a wave of his hand — he took them all!

"Wuwuwu... Mr. Zhu was right! Sir did not lie to us!" In the refugee crowd, a man with a severed arm knelt on the ground, crying like a child:

"As long as we persevere, there really is a city willing to take us in!"

"Stop howling! Get in quickly!" Lei Lie moved the last giant stone and shouted at the outside angrily:

"Listen well! After entering the city, follow the rules! Whoever dares to..."

However, before he could finish his sentence.

A sudden change occurred!

"Roar!!"

"Awoo!!"

A burst of beast roars suddenly came from afar.

Immediately after, there were the panicked voices of the refugees.

"Ah! There are Demonic Beasts!"

"They caught up!"

"Why are there still more?"

...

"Hmm?!"

Lei Lie's expression suddenly tightened, then his whole body shook, and the Silver Rank battle Qi in his body instantly erupted, wrapping his whole person in a layer of dazzling silver light.

"Bang!"

He shot up from the ground like a cannonball, and in a few leaps, he quickly jumped onto the tens-of-meters-high city tower.

"This is..."

The moment he stood at the high point and looked out into the distance, his pupils shrank slightly.

He saw that on the horizon, a group of black dots were moving rapidly across the snow toward Flower City.

"Demonic Wolves!"

He gripped the handle of his sword tightly, his eyes narrowing slightly.

According to his estimation, this group of Demonic Wolves was no less than a hundred.