A taunting smirk danced across Vienna’s Sorrow’s lips as he sheathed his sword and pointed at Dragons Run Wild. "Oh, it’s simple. Before the invasion, I spoke with Amber Pupil and gave him a deal: the Northern Alliance will invade Wind City up until the last point before stopping and letting Dragons Run Wild retake it. In return, Amber Pupil will give us three tier 2 cities to the north of the China server, including Dawn City. He agreed."

Amber Pupil shuddered in shock and fright. "S-stop lying, Vienna!"

The berserker simply smirked again and said, "I’m well aware of the politics in the China server right now. Your man in the VR department is so desperate to win back public support that he ordered you to betray your own country and pretend to be the messiah. Normally, that would be a wonderful plan, but you are so stupid that you don’t even understand the basic concept of deception. Why on earth wouldn’t we take Wind City when you’re surrendering it for free? Hahaha…"

Amber Pupil shivered violently. "No… that’s not true…"

……

I abruptly rose to full height, brandished my weapon and growled out, "Amber Pupil, you fucking scum! Facts speak louder than words, and no one’s going to trust your lies anymore!"

Candlelight Shadow was pulling at his mount’s reins and roaring as well. "Scum! You would give up three of our tier 2 cities just to make your alliance famous? Are you fucking mad? Do you really think the Northern Alliance is going to dance to your tune, you stupid animal!?"

Warsky was shaking with so much fury that all he could do was point a finger at the general direction of Dragons Run Wild and swear again and again, "Fuck… fuck…"

I turned toward the players behind Amber Pupil and shouted, "You heard that? Are you really still going to serve this despicable bastard? If you have even a shred of conscience left in your goddamned hearts, you will withdraw from Dragons Run Wild right now! Otherwise, I, Lu Chen swear that I will delete you from our homeland no matter the cost!"

At first, the players of Dragons Run Wild could only stare at us dumbly. Very soon though, tens of thousands pulled at the alliance emblem on their shoulders, threw it on the ground and even stomped on it. They shouted angrily, "I cannot believe how badly you got us fooled! You said that the purpose of Dragons Run Wild is to take revenge and become the wall of the China server, but it’s all lies! You are scum, Amber Pupil! You are scum just like your uncle, Tang Long!"

Hundreds of thousands of Dragons Run Wild players withdrew from the alliance until only several ten thousand players remained in the end. These people were either Amber Pupil’s aides or collaborators who were promised a portion of the profits. Long story short, they were all bad, bad people.

……

For a while, Amber Pupil could only shudder in place. Then, his eyes suddenly became filled with hatred, and he charged toward Vienna’s Sorrow while shouting, "Vienna, you treacherous scum!"

Vienna’s Sorrow simply raised his sword and sniggered. "I bet you’ve never heard of the saying ‘all’s fair in war’. Also, me, a scum? If you were a man who would protect your home even after you were exiled from your server like Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, then maybe I would’ve honored the deal. I certainly would’ve respected you a lot more. But you? You are just some trash who sold his own country for fame. Never put me under the same label as you."

Blackwing abruptly swooped down from the sky, and Amber Pupil was sent rolling across the ground, bleeding like crazy. Vienna’s Sorrow on his dragon was just too powerful.

Thud!

I abruptly stomped the ground and sent myself flying toward Vienna’s Sorrow like a lightning bolt. Unsheathing my weapon, I slashed the back of the black dragon four times in a row using Burning Blade Slash and Thousand Ice Slash to force him to back away. He stared at me in confusion and asked me, "What is the meaning of this, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?"

I slowly landed back on the ground before replying, "Amber Pupil is a Chinese traitor, true, but he’s not for you, a Northern Alliance player, to execute.”

"Hah! Hahaha! Very well!" Vienna’s Sorrow shrugged. "Feel free then! I promise I won’t get in your way!"

……

Suddenly, an unnatural sound of wind erupted behind me. It was Amber Pupil trying to stab me in the back!

I adjusted my POV immediately, turned around and parried the strike without looking. Then, I punched out with my fist, sent him flying into the air and dealt a massive amount of damage—70292!

"God damn!"

Vienna’s Sorrow couldn’t help an exclamation of surprise. He couldn’t believe how much damage I did even when barehanded.

Amber Pupil rolled across the grassy land for a time before coming to a stop. Then, while crawling away from me and wiping the blood on his lips, he suddenly cackled as if he had gone mad and shouted, "Yes, I’m a traitor! But so what? I lived for myself, and I stayed true to my beliefs! Protect my homeland? Defend the honor of my country? Are you shitting me? Why the hell would I care about something like that? I am a selfish person, and I’m proud of it! You, on the other hand, are just a hypocrite who had to work himself to the bone to keep up his facade! I pity you!"

I laughed. "I’m most definitely not dissatisfied with my life, and I certainly do not need your sympathy!"

Behind Amber Pupil, Little Piglet suddenly appeared and slashed him in the neck three times, laughing like a madman. "Lu Chen thinks it’s beneath him to kill you, but that’s fine. I’ll be perfectly happy to end your traitorous life!"

Crack crack crack...

Again and again, Little Piglet hacked away at Amber Pupil’s neck with basic attacks. It looked like he was trying to execute Amber Pupil by beheading, which he succeeded a few seconds later. Raising his blood-covered blade and sending Amber Pupil’s head flying with a kick, he let out a scornful snort and said, "There’s no one I look down on more than people like you. I may be a greedy fuck, but even I haven’t stooped so low that I would betray my own country!"

It was at this moment Xu Yang pointed an accusatory finger at him. "Little Piglet, you fuck! You didn’t even let us get a hit on the fucker! How are we going to vent our frustrations now?"

Little Piglet grinned placatingly. "Eh, well, Amber Pupil’s aides are right over there, and there’s at least tens of thousands of them. Feel free to kill them all, I promise I won’t stop you…"

"Pooh!"

……

As it turned out, neither Xu Yang nor I needed to clear out the remnants of Dragons Run Wild ourselves because Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi were already leading a bunch of Dragonlight Cavalrymen to trample over them. The war could wait until all these fucking traitors were dead!

Time passed slowly after that. Still trapped inside Sky Forest, China’s last couple million players tried again and again to break out of the Northern Alliance’s encirclement. Although our losses were severe, the Northern Alliance wasn’t faring much better themselves. After all, anyone who survived up until this point was undoubtedly among the best of the best. Our Dragonlight Cavalry especially was still almost 25k strong, and together with the 10k+ Dragonlight Archers they were able to inflict massive damage that even Vienna’s Sorrow was unable to ignore. Even at their current state, they were still able to cut through the enemy army like hot knife through butter, while Vienna’s attempts to wipe them out were like hitting a rock with an egg.

Five hours passed, and there were only 5 hours left before the Nation War ended. Our panic grew, however. The intensity of the Northern Alliance’s assault was growing by the minute, while Breeze and Rain had finally managed to wear down Karinshan’s NPC troops at the cost of millions and millions of players. Karinshan’s war generals were abnormally strong, so it was impossible to eliminate them without paying the blood price. Still...

……

"We need to do something. If this continues, the NPC legion will crumble before us…" Gui Guzi said to me quietly.

I nodded.

It was at this moment Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, Indigo Collar, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and the others walked up to us with bloodied weapons and grim expressions. Our commander-in-chief, Hot and Sour Noodles, and a group of players in tattered armors and hole-riddled cloaks walked up to us.

"Take a seat…"

I waved tiredly before plopping down beneath a tree and setting my sword against it. Lin Yixin and He Yi also sat to my left and right. Everyone was exhausted after the long, intense battle.

Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, Zhang Chun and more also took their seats. Our faces were pictures of worry.

"So, does anyone have any idea how we can save our one and only main city?" Hot and Sour Noodles sat beneath a mulberry tree and looked at everyone with bloodshot eyes.

Little Piglet suggested, "Er, we throw everything we have at them?"

Warsky stared at him. "What the fuck do you think we’ve been doing since the start? It’s useless. With our current numbers, each of us can kill 10 of theirs, and we’re still going to be outnumbered in the end…"

Candlelight Shadow leaned against a shrubbery and looked up. "We need to catch them by surprise, or we will fail to protect even one of our main cities, and this will be a total defeat for our server…"

Candlelight Shadow let out a sorrowful sigh as closed his eyes after that. Once upon a time, the Martial God was the one leading the invasion and flattening countless enemy main cities. That was in the past, however. Today, all the servers had honed themselves to perfection, and they were no longer the easy prey they used to be. It was to the point where even the Martial God couldn’t help but speak in a spent, defeated tone. The twilight of a hero was never pretty, and even we couldn’t help but feel sad on his behalf.

……

It was at this moment Warsky turned toward me. "Lu Chen, now is the time for you to shine! The China server needs you now more than ever, so work that devious brain of yours and think of a way to save us all already!"

I clenched my teeth. "You serious? Our situation is so bad that even a god would be hard-pressed to save it, and I’m not a god. With our current numbers, we won’t even be able to tickle the enemy!"

Warsky: "I… fuck…"

Beiming Xue knelt beside me and blinked at me. "Is there really nothing we can do, big brother?"

I let out a sigh and lay down on the ground.

Less than three seconds later, I abruptly bounced up to my butt.

"What? Did you think of something?!" Zhang Chun, Candlelight Shadow and Stranger of Three Lifetimes exclaimed in unison.

I nodded. "Yeah, I have a shitty plan that may be helpful…"

"Tell us!" they shouted in unison.

……

I clenched my teeth and said, "They hurt us, we hurt them!"