76: Chapter 76 Take us away!

This meant that Han City had temporarily become a city without a lord.

However, these were matters to be dealt with later.

Right now—there were more important things to do.

...

"City Lord."

Wan'er stepped forward.

Her voice was very soft and gentle, as if she were afraid of disturbing something.

"How about... we help them bury their loved ones' remains right here?"

The "them" she referred to were the one thousand poisoners.

This wilderness was not far from Han City.

Burying them on the spot was the fastest and easiest way.

In terms of military efficiency, this was the most reasonable choice.

Zhou Yun was silent for a moment.

"No."

He said.

Wan'er was slightly taken aback.

Zhou Yun turned around, facing the wilderness littered with corpses lying in disarray.

His voice was not loud, but every word was clear.

"I promised Liu Dashun and Sun Weiwu that I would bring their loved ones back to Flower City."

"I failed to do so."

"I promised the remaining nine hundred and ninety-eight poisoners that their loved ones would return to Flower City."

"I failed to do that as well."

He paused for a moment.

"But they are people of my Flower City."

"Being people of Flower City, they should not be buried outside Han City."

His gaze swept over the corpses, over the elderly, the women, and the children, finally landing on the boy he was holding in his left hand.

"If they were alive, I would bring them back."

"If they are dead, I will bring back their remains."

These twelve words fell into everyone's ears.

The wilderness went quiet for a moment.

Then, the weeping of those three hundred soldiers rang out once again.

But this time, it was not out of despair.

It was not anger.

It was something surging from the deepest part of their hearts, something burning and inexpressible.

Their loved ones were dead.

They could not come back.

But their City Lord said—

Bring them home.

"Pass down the order."

Zhou Yun's voice steadied.

"Prepare coffins and lay out all the remains."

"Not a single one left behind."

"I am going to take them—"

"Home."

...

The order was passed down.

Five thousand soldiers acted swiftly.

Some gathered wood, cloth, and everything usable from Han City.

Some felled trees on the spot, rushing to make simple coffins.

Some carefully lifted each body and gently placed them inside.

No one urged them on.

No one complained about the slowness.

Each body was carefully wiped clean and tidied up, restoring their appearance as much as possible to what it was in life.

The three hundred soldiers personally laid their loved ones to rest.

Some wiped the blood from their father's face while whispering something.

Some combed their mother's disheveled hair lock by lock.

Some placed their wife and child in the same coffin—letting them stay together, just as they were when they were alive.

The army was ready.

The return journey began.

...

Zhou Yun walked at the very front.

Behind him was a long procession.

Five thousand Flower City soldiers, escorting hundreds of coffins, moved slowly along the path they had come.

No one spoke.

Only the sounds of footsteps and the wind could be heard.

When they arrived, they were five thousand armored troops, brimming with Killing Intent.

When they returned—

They had a few hundred more coffins.

Zhou Yun rode his horse at the very front of the procession, his back straight.

But his heart—

Was empty.

He had promised to bring them back.

He had brought them back.

But he had not brought them back alive.

This weighed on his heart like a piece of lead, so heavy that he could barely breathe.

He did not know how he would face the others waiting for their loved ones to return once he got back to Flower City.

How to face the departed souls of Liu Dashun and Sun Weiwu.

How to face those who had knelt before him, crying and saying, "We trust you, City Lord."

He—

"City Lord."

Lei Lie's voice came from behind.

His tone was a bit unusual.

"There is... a situation behind us."

Zhou Yun paused.

He turned around.

And then—he saw it.

At the very back of the procession, at the gates of Han City—

A dense crowd of people was pouring out of the city.

They were not soldiers.

They were commoners.

The citizens of Han City.

Men, women, young, and old.

Bringing their families with them.

Some carried bundles on their backs, some held their children's hands, and some supported elderly people who could not walk well.

They followed behind the Flower City army, following continuously.

Neither too far nor too close.

They just followed silently.

When Zhou Yun turned back—

Those people stopped.

Hundreds of eyes looked at him.

And then—

They knelt down in unison.

Like a wheat field blown down by the wind.

From the front all the way to the back.

A solid black mass.

"Please—take us with you!"

One voice rang out first.

Then followed a second, a third—and then it merged into one.

"Please take us with you!"

"We beg you, City Lord—take us with you—!"

"We don't want to stay in Han City anymore!"

"Please take us in—!"

...

The wave of sound grew stronger, louder, and more unified.

Hundreds of people shouted in unison.

The sound echoed across the wilderness, lingering for a long time.

...

On the other side.

A thousand miles away, in Qing City.

Wang Shuai sat up in bed, casually brushing aside the arms and legs of the women beside him, and reached for his phone on the bedside table.

As the screen lit up, he squinted his eyes.

Missed voice calls: 7.

Unread messages: 99+.

He first opened the class group chat.

The group was already exploding.

Messages had been flooding the screen for several hours. He scrolled down from the earliest one—

City Lord Zhang Hao had sent a message: "I was wiped out by Zhou Yun! Han City is gone! I've been kicked out of the City Lord World!!"

Below it was a row of question marks.

"???"

"City Lord Zhang Hao, are you making up stories here?"

"Zhou Yun? That F-Level City Zhou Yun??"

"No, how long has it been since Zhou Yun declared war on you? It's already over?"

"An F-Level City beating an E-Level? And he won? Are you kidding me???"

...

At first, no one believed it.

After all, how long had it been since Zhou Yun declared war on City Lord Zhang Hao?

And everyone knew clearly that Zhou Yun was F-Level, while City Lord Zhang Hao was E-Level.

An E-Level fighting an F-Level is bullying!

The other way around?

Are you joking?!

City Lord Zhang Hao didn't explain much either.

He directly filmed a video and sent it to the group.

In the video, he was sitting in his room on Blue Star, looking disheveled, wearing pajamas, his hair messy, and dark circles under his eyes.

He faced the camera, his voice anxious and angry:

"I'm not lying to you! I've already returned to Blue Star! The city lord seal is gone, Han City is gone, everything I had in the City Lord World is gone!"

He shoved the phone close to his face: "Zhou Yun brought five thousand people—five thousand fully armed Professionals! He just leveled us! My City Guards saw that lineup and surrendered without even fighting!"

By the end, his voice was almost a roar.

After the video was sent, the group was silent for a few seconds.

Then it completely exploded.

"Holy crap, he really went back to Blue Star???"

"Five thousand Professionals?? F-Level City?? How is that possible??"

"City Lord Zhang Hao, were you wiped out by someone else and are using Zhou Yun as a scapegoat?"

"No, he really did return to Blue Star, that's his room in the video..."

"@Wang Shuai, handsome, aren't you going to do something about this?"

"@Wang Shuai @Wang Shuai @Wang Shuai"